r/n 

•  • 


• 


JL  .1. 

Tnrii 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


XT- 


BY 


EDGAR  W.  KNIGHT,  PH.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 
AUTHOR  OF  "THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  ON  EDUCATION  IN 
THE  SOUTH,"  "SOME  PRINCIPLES  OF  TEACHING,"  "PUBLIC- 
SCHOOL  EDUCATION  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,"  ETC. 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 
ATLANTA  •  DALLAS  •  COLUMBUS  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1922,  BY  EDGAR  W.  KNIGHT 
ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 

922.3 


gtbenttum 


GINN   AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


Education 
Library 

LA 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 
EDWARD  KIDDER  GRAHAM 

GENTLEMAN.  SCHOLAR,  FRIEND,  INSPIRING  TEACHER  OF  YOUTH 

BRILLIANT  LEADER  OF  MEN,  EXPONENT  AND  INTERPRETER 

OF  THE  SOUTH'S  BEST  TRADITIONS 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  several  years'  study  of  public 
educational  problems  in  the  United  States,  especially  in  the  South, 
through  courses  in  the  history  of  education  given  at  Trinity 
College  and  the  University  of  North  Carolina  for  teachers  and 
prospective  teachers  and  administrators.  In  such  courses  the  aim 
has  been  to  consider  the  principal  problems  of  administration, 
support,  and  supervision  of  present-day  education  in  the  Southern 
States  and  to  seek  an  understanding  of  their  meaning  in  the  light 
of  their  historical  growth.  The  book  is  therefore  a  study  of 
actual  educational  progress  in  the  South  rather  than  of  educational 
theories ;  and  the  relation  between  education  and  economic,  social, 
political,  and  religious  influences  is  given  emphasis. 

The  book  attempts  to  give  the  first  general  survey  yet  pub- 
lished in  a  single  volume  of  the  growth  of  public  educational 
organization  and  practices  in  those  eleven  States  which  formed 
the  Confederacy.  The  study  seeks  to  trace  the  development  of 
the  democratic  principles  of  education  in  the  South,  to  explain 
their  apparently  slow  application  or  practical  acceptance,  and  to 
point  out  from  the  past  certain  valuable  lessons  for  the  educa- 
tional problems  of  the  present.  The  book  has  been  prepared  for 
the  purpose  of  assisting  the  teacher,  the  educational  admin- 
istrator, and  the  public  to  a  more  intelligent  understanding  of  the 
present  educational  situation  in  the  Southern  States  and  of  their 
respective  tasks  in  meeting  it.  As  far  as  possible,  therefore,  the 
public  educational  problems  of  today  are  set  forth  in  the  light 
of  their  historical  development.  Another  purpose  in  mind  in  the 
preparation  of  the  volume  has  been  to  make  accessible  to  the 
student  and  the  teacher  certain  valuable  but  scattered  and  more 
or  less  inaccessible  materials  on  the  educational  history  of  the 


vi  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Southern  States.  Another  volume  now  in  preparation  will  include 
valuable  documentary  and  source  materials  illustrating  the  evo- 
lution of  the  democratic  ideal  of  education  in  those  States  and 
supplementing  the  present  volume. 

The  principles  of  universal  education  and  the  equality  of  edu- 
cational opportunity  have  in  theory  gradually  found  rather  wide 
acceptance  in  the  South,  but  their  practical  application  has  been 
surprisingly  slow.  This  appears  in  the  obvious  inequality  that 
exists  between  city  children  and  rural  children  and  is  shown  in  * 
the  school  term,  in  buildings  and  equipment,  in  teaching  skill,  in 
high-school  advantages,  and  in  professional  supervision  and  direc- 
tion now  provided  for  the  city  and  for  the  rural  communities. 
Eighty  per  cent  of  the  school  population  in  the  South  live  in 
rural  sections  and  the  other  20  per  cent  live  in  towns  and 
cities.  That  the  educational  advantages  of  the  20  per  cent  are 
in  almost  every  way  superior  to  those  of  the  80  per  cent  is 
universally  accepted  by  those  acquainted  with  the  conditions. 
In  the  South  the  city  child  receives  nearly  30  per  cent  more 
and  better  education  every  year  than  the  rural  child  receives.  The  , 
rural  school  usually  lacks  intelligent  direction  and  oversight1^ 
and  is  without  unity ;  it  is  often  colorless  because  it  has  not  yet 
been  led  to  respond  to  the  remarkable  social,  industrial,  and 
educational  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  recent  years.  Im- 
provements have  been  made  in  several  directions.  There  is  uni- 
formity of  improved  texts,  but  most  texts  in  use  in  the  country 
schools  were  prepared  primarily  for  the  city  schools.  There  is 
more  specific  training  of  teachers  now  than  formerly,  but  such 
training  is  too  often  colored  by  the  needs  and  practices  of  the 
city  schools.  The  legally  prescribed  courses  of  study  for  the 
rural  schools  are  often  of  the  cut-and-dried  type  and  in  the  hands 
of  the  usual  rural  teacher  become  outlines  for  dreary  drills.  There 
has  been  an  increase  in  support,  and  the  tendency  is  toward  the 
professional  direction  of  school  work  generally;  but  both  in 
support  and  administrative  direction  the  rural  school  is  seriously 
neglected.  Moreover,  rural  conditions  are  still  uninviting  and 


PREFACE  vii 

unsatisfying,  and  the  result  is  that  the  most  capable  teachers  and 
the  best-trained  administrators  and  supervisors  are  led  away  from 
rather  than  to  rural-school  work. 

For  these  reasons  public  education  in  the  rural  sections  of  the 
South  becomes  a  most  insistent  and  immediately  urgent  task. 
During  the  past  dozen  years  commendable  educational  advance- 
ment has  been  made,  but  it  has  been  confined  in  the  main  to  im- 
provement of  the  town  and  city  schools.  Corresponding  progress 
has  not  been  witnessed  in  the  rural  communities,  where  the 
principle  of  cooperation  has  not  been  widely  and  intelligently 
applied  in  the  solution  of  common  questions  and  the  promotion  of 
common  interests.  The  urban  communities  have  learned  to  co- 
operate in  education  and  other  undertakings  in  a  manner  not 
yet  fully  learned  or  appreciated  by  the  rural  and  sparsely  settled 
communities.  And  in  large  measure  here  is  the  explanation  of  the 
inadequate  provision  for  the  education  of  the  boys  and  girls  who 
live  in  rural  sections.  Happily,  however,  the  South  appears  now 
to  be  entering  upon  a  new  era  in  rural-life  development.  The 
amazing  economic  wealth,  the  increasingly  large  programs  for 
road-building,  and  the  movement  for  improved  agricultural  prac- 
tices are  full  of  promise  for  the  educational  and  social  develop- 
ment of  the  South.  And  in  these  interests  is  the  foundation 
for  rural  betterment. 

Many  of  the  causes  of  the  apparent  neglect  of  public  educa- 
tion in  the  South  in  recent  years  are  not  altogether  unlike  those 
which  prevented  a  more  wholesome  growth  of  public  schools 
before  1860  or  those  causes  which  helped  to  retard  progress  be- 
tween 1876  and  1900.  Sparsity  of  population,  lingering  results 
of  the  old  plantation  system,  farm  tenancy,  poor  means  of 
communication,  and  other  factors  have  always  been  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  public  schools.  Prior  to  1860  they  were  obstinate, 
and  since  that  time  their  influence  on  schools  has  been  mis- 
chievous. Added  to  these  retarding  factors  were  others  which 
had  their  origin  in  the  war  and  the  period  immediately  following 
it.  And  it  was  not  until  the  opening  years  of  the  present  century 


viii  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

that  the  Southern  States  were  sufficiently  recovered  from  the 
economic  and  moral  evils  of  that  period  to  set  themselves  with 
energy  and  hopefulness  to  the  great  task  of  educating  their 
children. 

The  substance  of  parts  of  Chapters  III,  X,  and  XI  appeared 
first  in  the  South  Atlantic  •  Quarterly  and  the  Sewanee  Review, 
and  a  part  of  Chapter  IV  in  the  High  School  Journal.  They  are 
here  included  through  the  courtesy  of  these  publications.  Certain 
portions  of  the  materials  dealing  with  North  Carolina  are  taken 
from  the  author's  "Public-School  Education  in  North  Carolina" 
(Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1916)  and  are  here  used  by  permis- 
sion of  the  publishers. 

Acknowledgments  are  here  made  to  Professor  William  K.  Boyd 
of  Trinity  College  (North  Carolina),  to  Professor  J.  G.  deR. 
Hamilton  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and  to  Professor 
Stuart  G.  Noble  of  Millsaps  College  (Mississippi)  for  reading 
parts  of  the  manuscript,  for  criticisms  concerning  the  plan  of  the 
book,  and  for  other  helpful  suggestions. 


EDGAR  W.  KNIGHT 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 
CHAPEL  HILL 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS i 

Periods  of  educational  development  in  the  Southern  States — Social  and 
economic  conditions  in  England  during  colonization  in  the  South — 
Influences  of  political  conditions  and  religious  changes  in  England — The 
force  of  economic  interest  in  the  Southern  colonies — The  Germans  and 
the  Scotch-Irish  in  the  South  and  their  educational  influences — Influences 
of  early  colonial  theories  and  practices  on  present  conditions — Questions 
for  Discussion  and  Further  Study — Bibliography 

II.  COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  ^ 20 

The  influence  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  during  the  colonial  period 
—The  plantation  system,  indentured  servants,  and  neg™  glairy — The 
Established  Church  and  religious  dissensions — The  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts — Charity  schools,  endowments, 
bequests,  philanthropic  societies  for  the  education  of  poor  children — Pri- 
vate libraries,  establishment  of  printing  presses,  and  the  publication  of 
newspapers — Private  tutors — Schools  not  yet  regarded  as  a  function 
of^thejjtate — Certain  conditions  delayed  the  growth  of  the  principle  of 
cooperation — The  significance  of  colonial  theories  and  practices  for 
present-day  educational  problems — Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further 
Study — Bibliography 

III.  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS:   THE   APPREN- 
TICESHIP SYSTEM       47 

The  principle  of  universal  education  slow  to  gain  practical  application  in 
the  South — The  apprenticeship  system  inherited  from  England  provided 
training  for  dependent  children — The  principal  features  of  the  English 
law  were  included  in  colonial  legislation — Early  apprenticeship  laws  in 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia — Similar  legislation  later  enacted  in 
Tennessee,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Florida,  and  Texas 
— The  educational  significance  of  the  system  and  its  lessons  for  present- 
day  problems  of  dependency  and  delinquency — Questions  for  Discussion 
and  Further  Study — Bibliography 


x  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IV.  THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  ^" 72 

Three  types  of  secondary  schools  in  the  South :  the  Latin  graramar 
school,  the  academy,  the  public  highjchpol — Types  of  academies  in  the 
South — influence  ~~  of  denominational  interest — Manual-labor  schools 
and  military  schools — Characteristics  of  academies — Decline  of  acad- 
emies and  rise  of  the  public  highschool  after  the  Civil  War — Questions 
for  Discussion  and^Further  Study — Bibliography 

V.  BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  . 112 

New  conception  of  education  after  the  Revolution — Influence  of  Jef- 
ferson and  other  leaders — Jefferson's  school  plans  of  1779  and  1796  and 
the  Virginia  school  law  of  1818 — Conditions  in  South  Carolina :  sec- 
tional jealousies — The  South  Carolina  act  of  1811 — Early  school  legis- 
lation in  Georgia — Public  education  in  Tennessee  and  the  acts  of  1823 
and  1830 — Conditions  in  North  Carolina — TheJaw_of  1839 — Permis- 
sive character  of  early  school  legislation  in  the  five  older  States — 
Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further  Study — Bibliography 

VI.  PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL   FUNDS 160 

Changes  in  public  educational  sentiment  stimulated  by  permanent  en- 
dowments for  schools — Carelessness  marked  the  early  administration 
and  operation  of  such  funds — Tennessee  the  first  Southern  State  to 
create  a  public  endowment  for  schools — The  work  of  the  permanent 
fund  in  Virginia — No  ante-bellum  fund  in  South  Carolina — Permanent 
endowments  in  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  North  Carolina  before  1825  — 
The  surplus  revenue  of  1837 — Creation  of  funds  in  the  other  Southern 
States — Losses  before,  during,  and  after  the  Civil  War — Reorganization 
after  1875 — Present  condition  of  permanent  funds — Questions  for  Dis- 
cussion and  Further  Study — Bibliography 

VII.  THE  AWAKENING  AND  ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM       y    .     195 

The  educational  revival  of  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century 
part  of  broad  reform  movement — Not  confined  to  any  section  of  the 
country — Response  of  Virginia  in  1829 — Defective  character  of  ante- 
bellum legislation  in  Virginia — Little  response  in  South  Carolina  before 
1860 — Law  of  1811  slightly  revised  in  1835 — Tennessee  plan  of  1830 
and  later  revisions — The  plan  of  1839  in  North  Carolina  and  improve- 
ments in  1852 — Georgia's  permissive  county  system — Experiments  for 
public  educational  reform  in  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Arkansas, 
Florida,  and  Texas — Response  of  the  Southern  States  not  complete — 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

But  a  new  educational  consciousness  was  being  aroused — Influence  of 
slavery,  aristocratic  conceptions,  sectarian,  interests — The  rural  charac- 
ter of  the  South  and  poor  means  of  communication  retarded  the  revival 
spirit — Considerable  progress  made  for  elementary  education  before 
1860 — Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further  Study — Bibliography 

VIII.  SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  jtr. 269 

Narrow  character  of  the  ante-bellum  curriculum  and  the  monopoly  of 
the  three  R's — Variety  of  texts  in  use  and  uniformity  of  books  unknown 
—'"Blue  Back'  Speller,"  "New  England  Primer,"  and  "New  York 
Reader"  widely  used — Importance  of  arithmetic  and  popularity  of  texts 
by  Pike,  Jess,  and  Colburn — Geographies  used  as  histories,  readers,  and 
moral  guides— Frequent  use  of  texts  by  Morse,  Olney,  and  "  Peter  Parley  " 
(Goodrich) — History  and  grammar  slow  to  appear — History  texts  used 
primarDy  as  readers — Grammar  regarded  as  intricate  and  dry — Popular 
fly-leaf  scribblings — Growing  sectionalism  of  the  period  led  to  the  pub- 
lication of  texts  in  the  South — Incompetent  teachers,  wasteful  methods, 
harsh  discipline,  poor  buildings  and  equipment,  of  the  period — Questions 
for  Discussion  and  Further  Study— Bibliography 

IX.  REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WARv< 306 

Reconstruction  more  destructive  thanjfre  war  to.  educational  resources 
— Led  also  to  inaccurate  statements  concerning  ante-bellum  effort  for 
schools — The  educational  influence  7>f  the  reconstruction  period — Con- 
ditions  between  1865  and  1867  compared  with  those  between  1867  and 
1876 — Composition  and  work  of  reconstruction  conventions  and  legis- 
latures— Agitation  of  the  mixed-school  question — Constitutions  and 
laws  somewhat  improved,  but  the  conditions  of  the  period  adverse  to 
public  education  growth — Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further  Study 
—  Bibliography 

X.  EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION    /.....     337 

For  many  years  schools  were  forced  to  struggle  for  existence — Financial 
difficulties,  frequent  diversion  of  school  funds,  Civil  Rights  Bill,  among 
the  obstacles  in  Virginia — Georgia  afflicted  with  social  disorder,  and  up- 
heaval— Mixed-school  requirement  in  Louisiana — Bitterness  and  violence 
in  Florida  and  Mississippi — Schools  "literally  died  of  starvation"  in 
Arkansas — School  system  "a  nullity  and  a  sham"  in  Tennessee — Simi- 
lar conditions  in  Texas — Lack  of  funds,  defective  legislation,  partisan 
strife,  fraud  and  extravagance,  in  Alabama  and  the  Carolinas — Slight 


xii  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

promise  of  improvement  in  all  the  States  after  1876 — Reaction  to  the 
reconstruction  regime  of  riot  and  extravagance — Schools  subordinated 
to  other  interests — Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further  Study — 
Bibliography 

XI.  THE  PEABODY  FUND  AND  THE  RISE  OF  CITY  SCHOOLS     383 

Beneficial  influence  of  the  Peabody  Fund — Its  primary  object — Dis- 
tributed on  sound  principles — "Free  schools  for  the  whole  people"  its 
motto — West  Virginia  and  the  members  of  the  Confederacy  the  bene- 
ficiaries— The  work  of  the  fund  in  Alabama,  in  Arkansas,  in  Florida, 
in  Georgia,  in  Louisiana,  in  Mississippi — Florida  and  Mississippi  denied 
the  benefits  of  the  fund  between  1885  and  1893 — The  work  of  the 
fund  in  the  Carolinas  and  Tennessee,  in  Texas — Virginia's  large  share 
in  the  fund — Influence  of  the  fund — Stimulated  local  enterprise  and 
promoted  town  and  city  school  systems — Helped  to  remove  hostil- 
ity to  the  education  of  the  negro — Encouraged  training  of  teachers — 
Tended  to  remove  the  bitter  spirit  of  sectionalism — Establishment  of 
George  Peabody  College — Recent  development  of  town  and  city  school 
systems — Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further  Study — Bibliography 

XII.  READJUSTMENT  AND  THE   REAWAKENING   .     .  '  .     .415 

Only  slight  progress  of  schools  between  1876  and  1900 — Poor  economic 
conditions,  sparsity  of  population,  isolation,  depressed  condition  of  the 
people,  the  curse  of  politics,  among  the  obstacles — Occasional  signs  of 
educational  interest — New  foundations  through  increased  economic 
wealth,  rise  of  a  strong  middle  class,  a  new  race  of  leaders,  and  political 
changes — Work  of  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South,  Southern 
Education  Board,  and  General  Education  Board — The  spirit  of  reform 
awakened — Considerable  progress  between  1000  and  1910 — Questions 
for  Discussion  and  Further  Study — Bibliography 

XIII.  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM :  ITS  TASKS  AND  TENDENCIES    436 

Slow  development  hi  rural  education  in  recent  years — Explanation  of 
present  low  educational  rank  of  the  Southern  States — Administrative 
organization — Tendency  to  improvement  hi  support,  administration, 
courses  of  study,  supervision,  and  hi  child-labor,  compulsory-attendance, 
health,  and  public-welfare  legislation — Hopeful  signs  of  progress — 
Needed  reorganizations— Education  of  the  negro— Important  problems 
of  rural  life  and  education — The  need  for  intelligent  consolidation — 
The  demand  for  wise  leadership — Questions  for  Discussion  and  Further 
Study — Bibliography 

INDEX     ...  473 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN 
THE  SOUTH 

CHAPTER  I 

EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  The  principle  of  universal  education  has 
evolved  through  distinct  periods  of  social,  political,  and  economic 
development  in  the  South. 

2.  A  knowledge  of  European  antecedents  and  influences  prevailing 
during  the  period  of  colonization  is  necessary  if  colonial  education  is 
to  be  properly  understood. 

3.  Economic  conditions  in  England  during  the  colonizing  period 
produced  unrest  and  vexatious  governmental  problems. 

4.  Political  conditions  were  likewise  unsettled  and  led  to  strange 
relations  between  the  rulers  on  the  one  hand  and  Parliament  and  the 
people  on  the  other. 

5.  Religious  changes  in  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  also  greatly  influenced  American  colonial  life. 

6.  In  these  various  changes  and  conditions  are  found  the  principal 
motives  for  colonization. 

7.  Economic  interests  were  powerful  in  the  Southern  colonies  and 
economic  extremes  early  developed. 

8.  As  a  result  the  selective  idea  in  education  was  inevitable  in  the 
South  in  the  early  times. 

9.  After  1700,  large  immigrations  of  Germans  and   Scotch-Irish 
came  to  the  South,  where  their  educational  influence  was  extensive. 

10.  On  the  ideals  and  principles  to  which  the  early  colonists  were 
devoted,  educational  theories  and  practices  were  to  be  built  up  and 
were  to  develop  and  change  as  the  conditions  required. 

11.  Every  advance  in  education  has  been  made  on  the  background 
of  the  past,  and  present-day  tasks  in  education  can  be  understood  only 
through  a  knowledge  of  conditions  out  of  which  they  have  evolved. 


2  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  growth  of  the  principle  of  universal  education  in  the 
Southern  States  is  marked  byjlistinct  periods  in  social,  political, 
and  economic  development  in  that  region,  "pie  first  peri,od  was 
that  of  the  transplanting  of  European  traditions  and  customs,  and 
extended  from  the  date  of  the  earliest  settlements  to  near  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  During  that  time  the  colonists 
were  influenced  by  conditions  and  practices  of  the  mother  coun- 
tries. ^e_^gcond^grifld  extended  from  about  1750  to  the  fourth 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  distinct  for  its  attempts 
to  modify  educational  practices  so  as  to  meet  the  neaLconditions 
which  were  produced  by  the  Revolution  and  the  political  begin- 
nings of  a  new  people.  During  this  period  very  interesting  and 
influential  educational  experiments  were  made.  TJb£_third  periojd 
extended  from  the  thirties  to  the  Civil  War  and  was  marked  by 
the  rapid  development  of  Jeffersonian  democracy  and  the  steady 
growth  of  belief  in  the  people. 

.L  TJigjniyjl  War  and  reconstruction  constituted  another  period, 
which,  though  brief,  was  very  distinct  because  of  the  widespread 
distress  and  uncertainty  which  it  produced.  The  years  from  18^6 
£  *  to  the  close  of  the  century  formed  still  another  period,  which  has 
become  well  known  for  the  heroic  efforts  made  during  those  years 
to  build  out  of  the  wreck  of  the  old  a  new  civilization,  but  on 
safer  and  more  permanent  educational  ideals.  Finally,  the  years 
(j  .  from  i  pop  to,  the  present  have  been  significant  for  the  educational 
revival  which  awakened  the  entire  South  shortly  after  the  opening 
of  the  new  century.  That  awakening  was  rapidly  gaining  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  World  War,  which  served  to  draw  sharp  attention 
to  the  weaknesses  as  well  as  the  strength  of  public  educational 
enterprises.  In  the  South,  as  in  other  sections  of  the  country,  the 
challenge  to  the  public  school  became  clearer  and  more  distinct. 
As  a  result  of  the  war  public  education  here  as  elsewhere  in  the 
United  States  has  begun  to  show  promise  of  wider  and  safer 
extension  and  growth. 

Public  education  in  the  South  is  now  distinctively  American  in 
its  essential  ideals  and  character.  But  the  educational  customs 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  3 

and  practices  of  the  colonial  period  can  be  understood  only  in 
view  of  European  antecedents  and  influences.  This  is  true  of  all 
the  English  colonies,  but  especially  true  of  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas :  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  where  the  dominating  in- 
fluences were,  as  in  England,  especially  aristocratic;  and  somewhat 
true  of  North  Carolina,  whose  earliest  settlers  were  immigrants 
from  Virginia  and  brought  with  them  some  of  the  educational 
practices  of  that  colony.  The  general  mental  attitude  of  all  these 
colonies  towards  education  was  therefore  much  like  that  of  the 
mother  country.  That  attitude  is  more  easily  understood  by  a 
view  of  conditions  in  England  at  the  time  these  colonies  were 
settled. 

The  population  of  England  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
has  been  variously  estimated  at  from  three  to  five  millions,  made 
up  of  two  main  classes :  the  self-supporting  and  independent  class 
and  the  dependent  class.    The  first  group  was  composed  of  the 
nobility,  the  higher  clergy,  knights,  country  gentlemen,  lawyers, 
the  lesser  clergy,  freeholders  and  farmers,  shopkeepers  and  trades- 
men, and  artisans  and  craftsmen.   The   dependent  group  was  ( 
made  up   of  journeymen,   apprentices,   vagrants,   "thieves  and  ! 
sturdy  beggars,"  whose  employment,  wages,  and  migration  were/ 
determined  by  some  one  of  the  upper  classes. 

At  the  accession  of  James  I  in  1603  jifobably  half  the  popuja- 
tion  of  England  was  made  up  of  this  dependent  class,  which  was 
very  largely  produced  by  certain  social  and  economic  changes 
which  modified  the  entire  structure  of  English  society  before  the 
seventeenth  century.  One  of  these  modifying  influences  was  the 
change  from  the  medieval  to  the  modern  land  and  agricultural 
system.  Much  of  the  poverty  and  vagabondage  of  the  time  are 
often  attributed  to  the  hard  times  resulting  from  inclosures  and 
sheep-raising  and  the  consequent  eviction  of  numerous  tenants  who 
had  made  a  living  of  tillage,  to  the  destruction  of  great  bands 
of  feudal  retainers,  and  to  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries. 
Chiefly  in  these  changes  may  be  found  the  explanation  of  the 
growth  of  this  dependent  class,  which  came  to  be  such  a  vexatious 


4  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

governmental  problem  and  of  sufficient  menace  to  call  for  attention 
from  Parliament.  The  problem  was  finally  solved,  as  far  as 
legislative  enactment  could  solve  it,  by  legislation  which  sought 
to  deal  with  the  poor  and  dependent. 

For  many  years  following  the  Black  Death,  which  produced 
a  scarcity  of  labor,  the  wool  industry  came  to  be  very  important. 
The  increase  in  the  price  of  wool  was  so  rapid  that  by  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century  sheep-raising  had  become  a  far  more 
profitable  industry  than  farming,  and  at  the  same  time  it  de- 
manded fewer  laborers.  At  first  no  hardship  was  worked  by  this 
change;  but  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VIII  many 
landowners  turned  their  attention  to  this  industry,  and  the  inclo- 
sure  into  sheep  pastures  of  vast  areas  which  had  hitherto  been 
used  for  tillage,  furnishing  work  for  many  laborers,  threw  out 
of  employment  many  people  whose  livelihoods  had  hitherto 
depended  on  arable  farming.  The  result  was  that  those  who 
had  land  or  money  enough  to  rent  and  stock  it  with  sheep  grew 
richer,  while  the  poorer  people,  dispossessed  of  land  and  rendered 
helpless  and  inefficient  under  the  changed  industrial  system,  were 
driven  out  to  beg  or  to  steal  for  a  living.  Frequently  "farmers 
were  got  rid  of  either  by  fraud  or  force,  or  tired  out  with  repeated 
wrongs  into  parting  with  their  property,"  and  when  other  means 
failed  eviction  was  resorted  to.  Many  evicted  farmers  were  thus 
reduced  to  a  state  of  pauperism,  and  whole  families  were  sent  on 
the  road  to  live  a  life  of  vagrancy.  As  the  peasants  increased, 
their  economic  condition  grew  more  unbearable.  There  was  evi- 
dence of  much  social  discontent.  The  wrongs  of  the  poorer  classes 
found  indignant  expression  in  the  literature  of  the  period,  which 
was  often  full  of  protests  against  the  evils  of  inclosures  and  the 
consequent  depopulation  of  the  rural  regions. 

The  large  bands  of  retainers  had  been  a  more  or  less  lawless 
element  throughout  the  period  of  feudal  power.  Feudal  armies 
had  greatly  impoverished  many  rural  regions,  especially  during 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses.  During  the  peace  of  the  Tudor  period 
numerous  retainers,  without  wages,  became  marauders  under  the 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  5 

protection  of  their  lords  and  stole  for  a  living.  A  statute  was 
passed  against  them  near  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  as 
they  were  dismissed  from  their  masters'  protection  they  became 
capable  vagabonds  and  rogues. 

The  problem  of  unemployment  thus  became  serious.  Opportuni- 
ties for  work  had  been  decreased  in  corporate  towns  by  the 
exclusive  policy  pursued  by  the  guilds.  Moreover,  the  kingdom 
had  been  subjected  to  heavy  taxation  by  Henry  VIII ;  the  coinage 
had  been  so  debased  by  him  that  Elizabeth's  efforts  at  reform 
were  not  immediate  or  thorough  enough  to  save  the  laboring  man 
from  its  evil  consequences ;  and  the  prices  of  necessary  commodi- 
ties doubled  and  often  trebled  without  any  corresponding  advance 
in  wages.  Hundreds  were  thus  forced  from  the  means  of  a  liveli- 
hood ;  the  needy  increased  in  great  numbers,  while  the  means  of 
relief  were  constantly  lessening.  Even  the  guild  and  town  corpora- 
tions found  it  difficult  to  make  provision  for  their  own  sick  and 
dependent. 

The  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  also  deprived  the  vagrants 
of  certain  sources  of  comfort  and  relief.  Henry  VIII  held  that 
these  institutions  were  dangerous  to  the  new  regime,  and  although 
the  monastic  authorities  might  appear  tractable  and  obedient, 
it  was  feared  that  they  disapproved  of  the  violent  measures  which 
had  terminated  papal  control  in  England.  Many  of  the  mon- 
asteries were  wealthy  and  held  extensive  landed  estates  which 
the  aristocracy  of  the  kingdom  coveted.  Moreover,  evidences 
of  corruption  and  of  evil  living  in  them,  and  alleged  immoral  and 
irreligious  motives,  seemed  to  warrant  drastic  royal  action.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1536  Parliament  suppressed  nearly  four  hundred 
of  those  which  had  an  annual  income  of  less  than  £200,  and 
three  years  later  the  larger  ones  were  swept  away  also  and  their 
possessions  added  to  the  king's  revenues.  In  a  few  years  mon- 
asticism  practically  disappeared  from  England,  and  hundreds  of 
institutions  harboring  thousands  of  monks  and  nuns  ceased  to 
exist.  The  usefulness  of  the  system  had  already  begun  to  wane, 
and  modern  society  has  provided  agencies  which  perform  the 


6  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

social  services  of  raonasticism  far  more  effectively  than  they  were 
ever  performed  by  monasteries  and  convents.  Yet,  with  the  dis- 
solution of  these  institutions,  there  disappeared  many  useful  means 
of  education  and  poor  relief. 

Finally,  the  Chantries  Act  of  1547  completed  this  royal  confisca- 
tion and  spoliation  of  religious  endowments.  Most  of  the  guilds 
and  corporations  had  funds  set  apart  for  providing  masses  for 
their  deceased  founders,  for  chantries,  for  the  comfort  and  sup- 
port of  their  infirm  and  sick  members,  and  for  numerous  other 
charitable  purposes.  These  foundations  supported  priests,  lent 
money  without  interest  to  poor  members,  apprenticed  their  chil- 
dren and  cared  for  their  widows  and  orphans,  and  in  numerous 
other  ways  provided  for  the  education  and  protection  of  the  un- 
fortunate. The  confiscation  of  these  means  of  education  and 
charity  told  disastrously  against  the  poorer  classes. 

These  changes  greatly  increased  the  number  of  wanderers  and 
vagrants  and,  at  the  same  time,  destroyed  many  sources  of  relief. 
Indiscriminate  charity  had  increased  the  number  of  idle  poor. 
The  "  open  house,"  kept  alike  by  barons  and  the  clergy ;  the  men- 
dicant practices  of  the  friars  and  other  religious  orders;  the 
habits  of  the  wandering  scholar  and  his  A  B  C  shooters  and  of  the 
pious  pilgrim  who  begged  his  way  from  shrine  to  shrine, — all  these 
agencies  helped  to  foster  a  class  of  beggars  whose  profession  was 
far  from  undignified  and  whose  activities  were  by  no  means  dis- 
graceful. These  beggars  were  of  many  kinds.  A  contemporary 
account  gives  two  dozen  varieties,  from  the  impotent  poor  to  the 
Abraham  man,  who,  like  the  fool  in  "  King  Lear,"  feigned  lunacy 
and  begged  "charity  for  poor  Tom"  in  the  hope  of  awakening 
the  pity  of  the  passers-by. 

Numerous  early  attempts  made  to  deal  with  this  condition 
sought  to  repress  the  evil  by  severe  punishments,  but  no  effective 
relief  was  afforded  until  Parliament  turned  attention  to  the  prob- 
lem. It  soon  became  recognized  as  necessary  for  the  more 
prosperous  members  of  the  community  to  contribute  means  to 
care  for  the  dependent  members.  Collections  were  made  for  this 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  7 

purpose,  first  in  the  form  of  charitable  and  voluntary  offerings, 
but  later  as  compulsory  contributions  levied  by  the  State.  Still 
later  it  was  found  that  if  the  "sturdy"  beggars  and  those  able  to 
do  so  were  to  be  forced  to  work,  some  employment  had  to  be  found 
for  them.  Numerous  acts  of  Parliament  in  the  fifteenth  century 
and  throughout  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth,  though  well  in- 
tended, failed  to  bring  relief;  and  it  was  left  to  the  wisdom  of 
Elizabeth  to  place  the  whole  matter  of  contributions  for  poor 
relief  on  a  satisfactory  basis. 

The  problem  was  finally  dealt  with  in  a  series  of  laws  which 
undertook  to  provide  a  stricter  punishment  for  sturdy  beggars 
and  to  inaugurate  a  compulsory  assessment  to  aid  the  deserving 
poor.  This  was  especially  true  of  legislation  between  1572  and 
1597,  which  made  more  explicit  and  practicable  the  directions 
for  controlling  the  bad  condition,  for  collecting  and  distributing 
the  funds  for  poor  relief,  and  for  setting  the  able-bodied  vagrants 
to  work.  This  legislation  marked  the  beginning  of  the  end  of 
the  free  vagabond  life  of  the  period,  and  the  principal  features 
of  the  earlier  acts  were  incorporated  in  the  law  of  1601,  which 
became  the  real  statutory  foundation  of  the  poor  law  and  the 
basis  of  a  national  system  of  poor  relief. 

For  this  reason  and  because  of  its  influence  on  the  practice 
of  the  colonists,  this  law  is  very  significant.  Under  it  definite  com- 
pulsory contributions  were  assessed  on  ratable  values  for  funds 
to  relieve  the  poor  and  unfortunate,  and  overseers  of  the  poor  were 
appointed  with  several  duties.  They  were  to  superintend  the  dis- 
tribution of  relief  to  the  impotent  poor,  to  apprentice  the  children 
of  the  poor  and  see  that  trades  were  properly  taught  them,  to 
set  to  work  able-bodied  vagrants  and  beggars,  and  to  attend  to 
the  general  enforcement  of  the  law.  While  this  and  similar  laws 
were  far  from  educational  in  intent,  nevertheless  they  became 
the  basis  of  the  only  training  given  a  very  large  number  of  chil- 
dren. It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  enforcement  of  these 
acts  was  put  into  the  hands  of  local  justices  who  were  trained  in 
the  interpretation  and  administration  of  such  legislation. 


8  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Political  conditions  in  England  prior  to  and  during  its  early 
colonizing  period  should  also  be  noted.  During  the  first  forty 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  immigration  to  America 
began,  the  claims  of  the  monarchy  were  perhaps  more  exorbitant 
than  at  any  time  in  English  history.  For  example,  it  was  seditious 
in  subjects  to  dispute  what  kings  and  rulers  could  do  in  the 
height  of  their  power.  And  not  only  was  this  view  held  by  the 
rulers  themselves,  but  others  attributed  to  them  absolute  au- 
thority, and  their  powers  thus  became  real  in  the  lives  of  their 
subjects.  Notable  contests  between  the  king  and  Parliament 
gave  the  latter  slightly  larger  participation  in  the  government, 
though  the  conflict  became  increasingly  intense  and  critical. 
Parliamentary  sympathizers  relied  for  their  cause  more  and  more 
on  the  "ancient  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people."  Through  the 
Petition  of  Right  appeal  was  made  by  Parliament  to  the  Great 
Charter  and  to  other  declarations  of  personal  liberties ;  in  1641  the 
Grand  Remonstrance  contained  such  expressions  as  "the  people," 
"  the  rights  of  the  people,"  "  the  liberties  of  subjects,"  and  many 
rights  and  privileges  were  finally  incorporated  in  the  Bill  of  Rights 
in  1689. 

During  the  contests  and  while  the  balance  of  powers  was  un- 
settled, American  colonization  was  progressing  and  distinct  ideas 
of  civil  liberty  were  brought  to  the  new  country.  For  it  was  not 
the  people  of  strong  royalist  spirit  who  emigrated,  but  those  of 
the  middle  and  lower  classes,  who  were  not  on  very  comfortable 
terms  with  the  king ;  and  among  these  classes  of  people  the  views 
of  Parliament  were  widespread.  The  same  views  were  very  largely 
held  also  by  the  Virginia  Company,  which  played  such  an  impor- 
tant part  in  influencing  the  colonists. 

Yet  unanimity  did  not  exist  even  among  those  who  left  England ; 
and  strong  as  the  predilection  was  among  the  founders  of  America 
for  self-government  and  representative  institutions,  the  Old-World 
differences  of  view  were  transferred  to  the  colonies  and  played  a  part 
in  local  struggles  there.1 

1  Cheyney,  European  Background  of  American  History,  chap.  xiii. 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  9 

Local  government  came  very  close  to  the  average  Englishman 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  as  sheriff,  justice  of  the  peace, 
churchwarden,  or  other  official  he  had  a  very  active  part  in  local 
affairs.  Certain  political  institutions  and  customs  controlled 
his  actions  and  influenced  his  habits  and  ideas  concerning  local 
government. 

The  sheriff  was  the  historic  head  of  the  shire,  or  county,  and 
had  numerous  and  varied  duties.  The  justices  of  the  peace,  the 
"men  of  all  work,"  represented  the  rural  gentry  and  were  very 
influential  in  English  affairs  throughout  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth, 
and  eighteenth  centuries.  James  I  said  of  them,  "At  London 
you  are  like  ships  in  a  sea,  which  show  like  nothing,  but  in  your 
country  villages  you  are  like  ships  in  a  river,  which  look  like 
great  things."  From  twenty  to  sixty  of  these  officers  were  found 
in  each  county.  The  most  important  duties  as  a  body  were 
performed  at  the  "quarter  sessions,"  regularly  held  in  October,  in 
midwinter,  in  spring,  and  in  midsummer.  Few  interests  in  human 
life  escaped  their  attention.  Up  to  1603  nearly  three  hundred 
statutes  had  been  enacted  in  which  the  justices  were  given  juris- 
diction. One  of  their  most  important  duties  was  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  apprenticeship  and  poor  laws.  The  churchwardens, 
whose  position  and  duties  were  not  so  ecclesiastical  as  the 
name  implies,  were  appointed  by  the  justices  annually  at  their 
Easter  session,  were  ex-officio  overseers  of  the  poor,  and  were 
in  charge  of  the  relief  of  the  poor.  Estimating  the  costs  and 
levying  local  assessments  for  the  purpose  were  among  their  most 
important  local  duties. 

Certain  religious  changes  in  Europe  became  powerful  influences 
in  American  colonial  life  also.  The  Renaissance  had  affected 
the  religious  life  of  all  Western  Europe.  The  part  of  the  Church 
in  the  direction  of  European  affairs  began  to  be  questioned  by 
the  new  national  rulers;  the  right  of  papal  interference  be- 
came a  matter  of  serious  dispute ;  a  change  appeared  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  laity  towards  the  Church ;  and  there  was  rapidly 
developing  a  desire  in  the  lay  mind  for  each  individual  to  be  free 


10  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

in  his  religious  life  instead  of  being  blindly  obedient  to  ecclesi- 
astical authority.  A  new  belief  in  the  importance  of  the  individual 
appeared  in  the  value  which  the  laity  attached  to  education  and 
in  the  tendency  to  leave  to  secular  rather  than  to  ecclesiastical 
control  the  education  and  care  of  the  poor.  Moreover,  the  English 
Humanists  turned  their  attention  to  an  examination  of  the 
Church  and  its  teachings  and  found  a  great  need  for  religious 
reform.  Although  their  efforts  were  not  fruitless,  reform  did 
not  come  directly  through  them,  or  as  they  desired,  but  through 
Luther  and  his  teaching,  which  made  powerful  appeal,  especially 
to  the  sentiment  of  the  German  people.  These  changes  had  their 
influence  in  England  also. 

When  England  became  a  colonizing  nation,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  there  were  at  least  four  well-defined 
religious  parties  among  her  people.  There  were  the  adherents 
of  the  Established  Church,  with  its  prayer  book,  articles  of 
religion,  uniformity  of  service,  and  the  practices  and  the  doctrines 
of  the  official  state  church.  Anglicanism  was  the  national  church, 
just  as  Catholicism  was  the  church  of  Spain.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century  Anglicanism  had  for  a  genera- 
tion been  the  only  religious  system  in  authority  in  England,  and 
it  was  therefore  strongly  intrenched  through  the  authority  of 
the  law  and  the  sanction  of  patriotic  feeling.  A  second  religious 
class  was  the  Catholics,  who  held  allegiance  to  that  religious 
system  which  claimed  the  Pope  as  its  earthly  head.  And  from 
the  time  Henry  VIII  attacked  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  and 
the  practices  of  the  medieval  church,  they  were  faithful  to 
Rome  in  spite  of  frequent  rigorous  applications  of  harsh  statutes 
against  them. 

Another  religious  class  was  the  Puritans,  who  at  first  protested 
against  certain  ceremonies  and  formulas  of  Anglicanism,  but  later 
turned  from  these  considerations  to  the  more  vital  and  prac- 
tical question  of  morals.  They  believed  that  the  Established 
Church  was  drifting  toward  Catholicism.  Still  another  class  was 
the  "Separatists,"  or  "Independents,"  to  whom  the  idea  of  a 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  II 

national  church  was  idolatrous,  and  who  believed  in  the  absolute 
independence  of  each  local  congregation. 

From  1629  to  1640,  during  the  personal  government  of  Charles 
I,  when  there  were  no  sessions  of  Parliament,  the  Star  Chamber, 
the  High  Commission,  and  the  Privy  Council  were  powerful  ad- 
ministrative instruments  which  were  in  sympathy  with  Anglican- 
ism. During  this  time  the  Puritans  and  other  dissenting  sects 
were  greatly  oppressed.  It  was  during  this  period  and  under  this 
regime  that  the  great  Puritan  migrations  to  America  were  made. 
In  migrating  to  the  New  World  the  Puritans  were  doubtless  some- 
what influenced  by  their  unfavorable  economic  conditions  at  home, 
but  they  turned  to  America  as  a  place  where  religious  liberty 
would  also  be  secure.  Later  on,  during  the  Commonwealth  period, 
when  the  Puritan  regime  was  so  distasteful  to  them,  thousands 
of  Cavaliers  emigrated  to  Virginia,  and  between  1649  and  ^69 
the  population  of  that  colony  increased  from  fifteen  thousand  to 
twenty-five  thousand. 

The  social,  economic,  political,  and  religious  conditions  de- 
scribed were  among  those  from  which  many  of  the  early  colonists 
came.  In  those  conditions  may  be  found  the  incentives  which 
prompted  many  Englishmen  to  come  to  America.  But  there  were 
other  motives  for  colonization.  Throughout  the  sixteenth  century 
there  were  frequent  complaints  of  a  rapidly  increasing  population. 
Class  distinctions  and  unfavorable  industrial  conditions,  working 
painful  hardships  on  the  poor  and  the  less  prosperous  part  of 
society,  persistently  called  for  relief.  Crimes  were  numerous  and 
on  the  increase  in  spite  of  cruel  penal  legislation.  It  was  a  com- 
mon belief  that  the  surplus  population  would  readily  flow  to  the 
New  World.  Free  land  was  also  an  attraction ;  and  the  discovery 
of  tobacco  as  a  profitable  product  proved  a  powerful  incentive 
to  immigration  to  Virginia.  Many  glowing  accounts  of  the  colony 
reached  England  and  appealed  to  the  various  classes :  the  restless, 
the  impatient,  and  the  adventurous ;  those  of  straitened  economic 
circumstances  and  of  restricted  social  conditions;  the  yeoman, 
whose  children  must  always  remain  yeomen;  those  who  desired 


12  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

land  and  the  position  of  gentlemen;  and  those  to  whom  the 
avenues  of  advancement  were  closed  at  home,  —  all  these  classes 
saw  in  Virginia  attractive  social  and  economic  opportunities. 

The  force  of  economic  interest  jwas  therefore  veryjpowerful  in 
the  Southern  colonies.  Economic  conditions  were  likewise  very 
influential  in  the  development  of  social  institutions.  The  road  to 
wealth  and  influence  lay  in  agricultural  pursuits,  where  servant 
labor  was  essential.  In  practically  all  the  Southern  colonies  it 
was  natural  that  economic  extremes  should  early  develop  ;  side  by 
side  with  the  influential  planter  class,  but  in  striking  contrast  to 
it,  there  grew  up  the  indentured  servant  class,  which  constituted 
a  great  part  of  the  population.  The  servant  was  bound  for  a  term 
of  from  two  to  seven  years  to  the  planter  who  transported  him  or 
who  had  by  contract  secured  control  over  him.  At  the  end 
of  his  term  of  indenture  he  became  a  freeman.  By  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century  the  importation  of  African  slaves  was 
also  getting  to  be  a  profitable  industry,  and  life  in  Virginia  had 
assumed  the  character  which  it  retained  for  more  than  a  century. 
There  developed,  therefore,  a  distinction  between  the  small  land- 
owner and  the  master  of  vast  estates  ;  the  plantation,  more  or  less 
isolated,  but  with  its  abundant  necessities  and  many  luxuries  of 
life,  became  the  social  unit  and  helped  to  develop  the  aristocratic 
spirit. 

With  such  traditions  in  such  an  environment  educational  prac- 
tices in  the  Southern  colonies  were  more  or  less  identical  with  those 
of  the  mother  country.  On  account  of  the  peculiar  religious 
interests  in  England  in  the  seventeenth  century  education  in  most 
of  the  colonies  was  given  a  decidedly  religious  color,  and  the, 


jKgre_jidorjted.  Where  the  Puritan  influences  were  most  pro- 
nounced there  appeared  a  tendency  to  provide  education  for  all 
the  people;  but  in  those  colonies  where  the  Established  Church 
was  the  dominating^religioua  influence  the  ajrislocratic  and  selective 
idea  in  education  prevailed,  and  tjie  education  jjf  the  masses 

of  the  population  was  neglected  except  as  it  was  cared  for  (as 

_^-    _  _*  *    «^^~*        «  —  '      *•*  —  -        -  -  *       -  —  *   —  ••  •»  —  —    —  ^^ 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  13 

in  England)  bjfjthe  apprenticeship  and  the  poor-law  system.  The 
I  Southern  colonists,  therefore,  inherited  their  educational  scheme 
[  directly  from  England.  They_broughL  with  them  the  idea  of  the 
Latin  -grammar  school,  which  was  largely  classical  in  the  ma- 
terial of  instruction  and  furnished  a  secondary  and  higher  educa- 
tion for  the  training  of  the  more  prosperous  part  of  society.  Xjiey 
also  brought^  for  the  upper  classes  the  tutorial  system  oLediica- 
jjon.  Thus  Virginia,  which  was  the  first  attempt  made  at  repro- 
ducing the  social  system,  the  government,  the  Established  Church, 
and  class  distinctions  of  the  mother  country,  reproduced  also 
the  English  educational  system.  The. 


jjie  _education_pf  Iheir  families  the  practice  which  prevailed  in 
England  ;  and  the.apprentjce^bip^plan  and  the  poor  laws  furnished 
,afc  system_  oj  industrial  training  ,  for_orrjhans,  the^poor^  and  Jhe 
dependent  classes,  who  were  in  large  measure  without  the  means 
of  formal  intellectual  training.  In  the  main  these  traditions  were 
inherited  in  the  other  colonies  also. 

Before  1  700  the  American  colonies  were  almost  entirely  English, 
but  after  that  time  immigrants  came  from  two  other  nationalities, 
the  German  and  the  Scotch-Irish.  These  people  came  in  such 
great  numbers  that  in  1775  it  was  estimated  that  fully  225,000 
Germans  and  385,000  Scotch-Irish  were  in  the  colonies  which  won 
independence  from  England.  European  influences  had  led  to  this 
emigration  also.  Religious  intolerance,  heavy  taxes  and  general 
economic  oppression,  and  the  ravages  of  war  were  some  of  the 
causes  that  induced  these  people  to  seek  new  homes  in  America. 

The  religious  differences  between  the  Catholics  and  the  Protes- 
tants, generally  known  as  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  constituted 
the  most  destructive  conflict  that  ever  devastated  Germany,  set- 
ting back  the  material  development  of  the  country  nearly  two 
centuries.  Thousands  of  villages  were  wiped  out,  the  country 
was  disastrously  depopulated,  and  the  few  people  left  by  the  strug- 
gle were  barbarized  by  losses  and  sufferings  and  by  the  ravages 
and  atrocities  of  the  brutalized  soldiers.  The  political  questions, 
territorial  changes,  and  religious  difficulties  were  adjusted  by  the 


14  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Treaty  of  Westphalia,  but  the  material  losses  during  the  conflict 
had  been  so  extensive  that  for  a  half  century  or  more  it  was  im- 
possible to  restore  the  economic  development  of  the  country,  and 
the  moral  degeneration  which  followed  the  enormous  losses  of  life 
and  property  was  even  more  distressing. 

This  generation  of  warfare  throughout  all  Germany  was  fol- 
lowed by  another,  in  which  the  territorial  ambitions  of  Louis  XIV 
led  to  intermittent  invasion  of  the  German  lands  on  the  eastern 
border  of  France.  These  invasions  culminated  in  1688,  when  the 
armies  of  the  French  devastated  the  Rhenish  Palatinate.  Thou- 
sands of  Palatines  were  driven  from  burning  homes  and  devastated 
fields.  A  hope  for  bettering  their  earthly  condition  came  in  good 
reports  from  the  American  colonies  under  English  rule,  a  hope 
which  was  made  more  vivid  by  such  men  as  William  Penn. 
Thousands  of  homeless  and  dejected  Germans  drifted  down  the 
Rhine,  across  to  England,  and  thence  to  America.  Many  of  them 
settled  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  in  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
and  in  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas.  Most  of  them  landed  at  Phila- 
delphia, but  they  soon  learned  of  better  opportunities  in  the  South, 
and  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  increasing  numbers 
were  found  in  that  region.  They  occupied  the  counties  of  the 
valley  and  the  piedmont  section  of  Virginia ;  the  territory  along 
the  Yadkin  and  Catawba  Rivers  and  around  New  Bern  and 
Wilmington  in  North  Carolina ;  the  counties  of  Orangeburg,  Lex- 
ington, Barnwell,  Newberry,  Abbeville,  Edgefield,  and  Charleston 
in  South  Carolina;  and  a  portion  of  the  territory  along  the 
Savannah  River,  between  Savannah  and  Augusta. 

The  Scotch  and  the  Scotch-Irish  came  in  greater  numbers  than 
the  Germans.  The  emigration  of  these  people  was  largely  the 
result  of  the  horrors  which  had  accompanied  the  suppression  of 
Ireland  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  wholesale  confiscation  of  its 
lands,  the  proscription  of  its  religion,  and  the  plantation  among 
the  Irish  of  an  alien  and  hostile  people. 

The  English  nation  definitely  adopted  the  principles  of  the 
Reformation  and  applied  them  rigorously  to  Ireland.  All  persons 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  15 

were  ordered  to  attend  the  Anglican  service,  under  penalty  of 
fine ;  the  mass  was  prohibited ;  the  church  revenues  were  taken 
from  the  priests ;  Irish  Catholicism  was  finally  proscribed  by  law ; 
and  fear  that  their  religion  would  never  be  respected  brought  fresh 
terror  to  the  Irish  people.  Moreover,  the  extraordinary  growth 
of  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  the  desire  for  rapid  roads  to  wealth 
led  England  to  adopt  a  policy  of  confiscating  great  tracts  of 
fertile  Irish  lands  where  gigantic  fortunes  could  be  readily  and 
easily  amassed.  Chronic  disturbances  between  the  English  gov- 
ernment and  the  Irish  chiefs  were  seized  upon  as  pretexts  for 
the  confiscations,  which  were  skillfully  and  systematically  made 
through  means  of  severe  examination  of  titles  before  suborned 
or  intimidated  juries.  Thus,  without  any  compensation  the  pro- 
prietary rights  of  many  of  the  natives  were  lost. 

Then  followed  the  plantation  of  Ulster,  which  began  in  1611, 
when  a  large  confiscated  area  was  regranted  to  proprietors  who 
were  mainly  London  merchants  and  the  noblemen  of  the  court, 
who  introduced  tenants  from  the  northern  part  of  England  and 
the  lowlands  of  Scotland.  Men  of  Puritan  tendencies  were  not 
reluctant  to  emigrate  to  Ireland,  and  as  a  result,  for  two  decades 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  large  Presbyterian  element  was  in- 
troduced into  Ulster.  Anglicanism  was  the  legalized  state  church 
in  Ireland,  and  the  religion  of  the  newcomers  was  not  acknowl- 
edged or  respected.  Moreover,  the  industrial  interests  of  Ulster 
were  subordinated  to  those  of  England.  The  bitterness  of  theo- 
logical animosity  greatly  increased,  and  soon  other  evils  appeared. 

In  time  a  feverish  restlessness  pervaded  Ireland,  and  the 
murmurs  of  discontent  and  social  unrest  foretold  an  approaching 
rebellion.  Property  rights  were  less  secure  than  ever,  all  religious 
worship  except  the  Anglican  was  made  illegal,  and  religious 
animosities  became  more  bitter.  Rebellion  broke  out  in  1641, 
and  a  general  expulsion  of  the  English  was  accompanied  by 
disastrous  barbarities.  The  rebellion  was  finally  put  down,  but 
not  until  nearly  half  a  million  people  had  perished  by  the  sword, 
by  plague,  or  by  an  artificially  produced  famine  which  followed. 


1 6  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Conditions  showed  but  slow  improvement  towards  the  close  of  the 
century.  The  navigation  acts  excluded  Ireland  from  the  ad- 
vantages of  colonial  trade,  industries  were  discouraged  and 
crippled  by  prohibitive  taxes,  and  the  commercial  legislation  of 
England  practically  destroyed  the  wool  and  linen  manufacturers. 
In  addition  to  these  economic  disadvantages  a  form  of  religious 
persecution  appeared  after  1689.  As  a  result  of  this  combined 
economic  and  religious  oppression  and  disadvantage  thousands  of 
these  people  emigrated  and  formed  the  largest  body  of  European 
immigrants  to  America.  Like  the  Germans,  many  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  finally  settled  in  the  South. 

After  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  German  and 
Scotch-Irish  immigrants  came  to  the  Southern  colonies  in  rather 
large  numbers.  The  later  educational  influence  of  these  people 
will  be  noted  elsewhere  in  this  study.  For  the  present  it  is 
necessary  merely  to  point  out  that  wherever  they  settled,  churches 
and  schoolhouses  were  established  almost  immediately  thereafter. 
Their  schools  were  usually  taught  by  the  ministers  of  the  local 
congregations.  The  school  interests  of  the  Scotch-Irish  were 
especially  strong.  In  the  South,  as  elsewhere,  they  were  the 
first  to  open  classical  schools,  and  for  half  a  century  or  more 
their  work  was  powerful  for  its  influence  on  the  religious  and 
educational  life  of  the  South. 

The  causes  or  motives  which  led  to  colonization  appear  in  the 
conditions  described  in  the  foregoing  pages.  Among  them  were  the 
spirit  of  adventure,  the  desire  for  material  wealth,  the  unrest 
and  discontent  produced  by  economic  disadvantage  and  political 
confusion,  and  the  insecurity  of  religious  beliefs.  The  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  were  times  of  oppressive  economic  con- 
ditions and  intense  religious  restlessness  and  political  disturbances. 
Moreover,  England's  resources  were  slender,  and  colonization  was 
thought  of  as  a  means  of  obtaining  relief  from  the  persistent 
dangers  of  pauperism.  Colonizing  ventures,  therefore,  came  to  be 
viewed  largely  as  commercial  undertakings.  For  example,  the 
Puritan  migration  to  New  England  was  stimulated  not  only  by 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  17 

religious  but  by  economic  and  political  causes,  and  the  Southern 
colonies  were  almost  entirely  the  outgrowth  of  the  trading  spirit 
and  the  influence  of  economic  distress  in  the  mother  country. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  earliest  settlers  came  to  the  South 
from  those  countries  and  peoples  that  had  embraced  Protestantism 
in  some  form.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  their  first  edu- 
cational efforts  should  originate  as  undertakings  of  philanthropy 
or  of  the  Church.  But  they  also  brought  with  them  certain  social, 
political,  and  economic  ideals  which  later  were  to  have  a  decided 
influence.  On  the  ideals  and  principles  to  which  they  were  de- 
voted were  to  be  built  up  the  educational  theories  and  practices 
which  have  since  developed  as  changing  conditions  have  required. 
The  early  educational  interests  of  the  colonists  are  to  be  viewed, 
therefore,  in  the  light  of  the  European  conditions  out  of  which 
they  came.  Moreover,  many  of  the  present  theories  and  practices 
have  their  origin  in  those  conditions  and  in  colonial  influences. 
For  this  reason  the  student  of  present  educational  conditions 
is  likely  to  ask  if  colonial  theories  and  practices  could  have  been 
different  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  settlement  and  of 
political  and  economic  influence,  and  if  the  lessons  of  those  earlier 
times  are  valuable  for  the  conditions  and  tasks  of  today. 

These  questions  become  important  in  a  consideration  of  public 
education  in  the  South.  In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  is 
made  to  answer  them.  For  the  present  it  is  sufficient  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  student  to  the  stress  and  struggle  of  the  strange 
conditions  in  which  the  colonists  found  themselves.  The  hard- 
ships and  deprivations  of  the  time  taxed  the  faith  and  the  heroism 
of  the  newcomers,  but  made  them  resourceful  in  dealing  with 
circumstances  which  did  not  naturally  promote  immediate  educa- 
tional organization.  Many  of  the  colonists  saw  in  education 
something  very  essential  to  their  well-being.  Some  of  them  saw 
a  close  kinship  between  education  and  religion,  and  all  of  them 
were  either  intimately  or  remotely  acquainted  with  the  educa- 
tional ideals  and  practices  which  prevailed  in  their  old  homes  in 
Europe.  Many  of  those  practices  were  naturally  transplanted 


i8  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

here,  some  continued  to  exist  in  part  not  only  throughout  the 
colonial  days  but  far  into  the  national  period,  while  others  have 
been  modified  from  time  to  time  by  changing  conditions.  A  study 
of  present  conditions,  however,  points  clearly  to  the  fact  that 
every  advance  in  education  in  the  South,  as  elsewhere,  has  been 
made  on  the  background  of  the  past.  The  historical  element 
therefore  becomes  increasingly  important  in  the  effort  of  the 
student,  the  teacher,  and  the  administrator  to  test  the  validity 
of  the  practices  or  tendencies  of  present-day  educational  work. 
The  practical  parts  of  such  work  cannot  be  understood  sympa- 
thetically except  through  an  acquaintance  with  the  conditions 
out  of  which  they  have  grown  and  with  the  ideals  or  theories 
on  which  they  have  developed.  Nor  can  present-day  problems 
or  tasks  in  education  be  intelligently  and  safely  analyzed  except 
through  a  knowledge  of  those  practices  which  have  evolved  from 
the  conditions  of  the  past. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Explain  the  motives  for  the  principal  streams  of  settlers  to  the 
South  during  the  early  colonizing  period. 

2.  The  seventeenth  century  has  been  described  as  the  period  of  the 
"transit  of  civilization."   Explain  the  meaning  of  this. 

3.  What  was  the  state  of  education  for  the  lower  classes  in  those 
countries  from  which  the  Southern  colonists  came?    for  the  so-called 
higher  classes  ? 

4.  Why  were  the  early  educational  efforts  in  the  South  the  under- 
takings of  philanthropy  or  of  the  Church  ? 

5.  In  what  way  were  such  efforts  the  result  of  the  Protestant  Revolt 
in  European  countries? 

6.  Why  is  it  difficult  for  a  common-school  system  to  develop  in 
countries  or  communities  where  class  distinctions  are  marked  ? 

7.  Compare  the  early  settlers  in  the  South  with  those  of  the  other 
colonies  in  origin,  in  motives  for  settlement,  and  in  religious,  political, 
and  economic  interests. 


EUROPEAN  ANTECEDENTS  19 

8.  What  influences  were  most  powerful  with  the  Southern  colo- 
nists— the  economic,  political,  or  religious?    Why? 

9.  How  were  the  most  potent  influences  of  these  colonists  likely 
to  reflect  themselves  in  subsequent  educational  theory  and  practice? 

10.  What  were  the  foundations  on  which  education  in  the  South 
was  likely  to  be  developed  ? 

11.  Were  the  new  conditions  into  which  the  colonists  came  such  as  to 
promote  or  to  delay  educational  organization?    Explain. 

12.  What  is  the  evidence  that  public  education  in  the  South  is  now 
essentially  American  in  ideal  and  form  ? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

AYDELOTTE,  "Elizabethan  Rogues  and  Vagabonds,"  in  Oxford  Historical 
and  Literary  Studies,  Vol.  I.  Oxford,  1913.  BRUCE,  Institutional  History 
of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  2  vols.  New  York,  1910.  CAMPBELL, 
The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  2  vols.  New  York,  1893. 
CHEYNEY,  European  Background  of  American  History  (The  American 
Nation  Series).  New  York,  1904.  EGGLESTON,  The  Transit  of  Civilization. 
New  York,  1901.  FAUST,  The  German  Element  in  the  United  States, 

2  vols.    Boston,   1909.    FISKE,   Old  Virginia  and   her  Neighbors,   2    vols. 
Boston,  1898.    HANNA,  The  Scotch-Irish,  2  vols.    New  York,  1902.    KNIGHT, 
"The  Evolution  of  Public  Education  in  Virginia,"  in  the  Sewanee  Review, 
Vol.  XXIV,  No.  i.    KNIGHT,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 
Boston,  1916.    LECKY,  A  History  of   Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth   Century, 
5  vols.   New  York,  1893.   NICHOLLS,  A  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law, 

3  vols.    New    York    and    London,    1898-1899.    SANDYS,    "Education,"    in 
Shakespeare's    England,   Vol.    I.    Oxford    University    Press,    1916.    TYLER, 
England   in   America    (The   American    Nation    Series).    New   York,    1904. 
WHIBLEY,  "Rogues   and   Vagabonds,"   in   Shakespeare's   England,   Vol.   II. 
Oxford  University  Press,  1916. 


CHAPTER  II 

COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  From  Virginia  and  South  Carolina, 
which  were  more  nearly  like  England  than  the  other  colonies,  the 
most  powerful  educational  and  political  influences  in  Southern  life 
emanated  during  the  colonial  period. 

2.  Educational  practices  in  the  Southern  colonies  are  to  be  ex- 
plained, however,  not  only  in  the  customs  of  England  but  also  in  other 
influences. 

(3!  The  plantation  system,  indentured  servants,  negro  slavery,  and 
the  maintenance  of  the  Established  Church  as  a  part  of  the  social 
system  tended  to  delay  the  growth  of  a  healthy  interest  in  schools 
and  community  cooperation. 

4.  Indirectly,  however,   educational   interests  were  somewhat  pro- 
moted  through  the   Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the   Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts,  an  auxiliary  of  the  Established  Church,  which  aided  in 
establishing  schools  and  in  supplying  teachers,  textbooks,  and  libraries. 
Charity  schools  became  numerous  in  all  the  Southern  colonies,  through 
missionary  and  philanthropic  agencies,  which  stimulated  the  benevo- 
lence of  public-spirited  people. 

5.  Evidence  of  creditable  interest  in  certain  kinds  of  educational 
facilities  may  be  seen  from  the  wills  of  the  period,  in  numerous  en- 
dowments, bequests,  and  philanthropic  societies,  and  in  the  founding 
of  schools  for  the  education  of  poor  children. 

6.  Evidence    of   slight    educational    interest   on    the   part    of   the 
Assemblies  appeared  in  most  of  the  colonies. 

7.  Other  evidences  of  colonial  culture  may  be  seen  in  the  private 
libraries  of  the  time,  in  the  collections  of  books,  and  in  the  establish- 
ment of  printing  presses  and  the  publication  of  newspapers. 

\$.  Schools  were  not  yet  regarded  as  a  function  of  the  State,  but 
education  was  not  neglected,  and  opportunities  for  educational  training 
were  larger  than  is  commonly  thought. 

9.  Educational  facilities  were  not  so  extensive  in  the  South  as  in 
the  North,  because  of  differences  in  climate  and  in  economic  and  other 

20 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE      21 

conditions.   The  South  has  always  been  rural  and  agricultural,  and  the 
principle  of  cooperation  has  been  slow  to  operate  hi  that  region. 

10.  The  educational  theories  and  practices  of  the  South  during  colo- 
nial times  are  to  be  understood,  therefore,  just  as  present-day  educa- 
tional problems,  in  the  light  of  the  dominating  economic,  political,  and 
social  conditions  of  the  period. 

The  principal  points  of  English  settlement  in  what  is  now  the 
Southern  States  were  Jamestown  in  Virginia,  and  Charleston  in 
South  Carolina.  From  these  two  colonies  the  most  powerful  edu- 
cational and  political  influences  in  Southern  life  emanated  during 
the  colonial  period.  They  were  more  nearly  like  the  mother 
country  than  any  of  the  other  American  colonies ;  in  them  ap- 
peared an  attempt  of  England  to  reproduce  herself  on  American 
soil.  Educationally  this  attempt  appeared  in  a  transplanting  of 
those  traditions  and  practices  which  prevailed  in  England  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  In  the  main  these  practices  consisted  of  a 
I  classical  training  (the  tutorial  system  or  education  in  England) 
for  the  well-to-do,  and  provision  for  the  old  English  industrial 
training,  through  the  poor-law  and  apprenticeship  system,  for 
the  poorer  classes.  Moreover,  some  of  the  earlier  settlers  were 
familiar  with  educational  provision  through  the  means  of  endow- 
ments and  foundations,  which  formed  in  England  a  favorite  and 
popular  means  of  educational  support.)  In  some  of  the  colonies 
these  endowments  formed  evidence  of  early  educational  interest 
as  well  as  of  the  transference  of  English  custom  to  America. 

Educational  practices  in  the  Southern  colonies  had  their  ex- 
planation not  alone,  however,  in  the  traditions  and  customs  of 
the  mother  country.    These  influences  were  indeed  powerful,  as 
was  also  the  political  philosophy  of  seventeenth-centuiy_EjiglajQ.d, 
i  "that  the  great  body  of  the  people  were  to  obey  and  not  to 
I  govern,  and  that  the  social  status  of  unborn  generations  was 
'already  fixed."    This  theory  was  not  without  its  influence  in  the 
English  colonies.    But  in  addition  to  these  influences  other  qpn- 
ditions  and  agenciga-ja^re  potent  in  determining  the_  educational 
practices  in  the  South^bef.ore^tfre  revolutionary  period. 


22  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

,  One  of  the  most  influential  of  these  conditions  was  jhe_  planta- 

tion system.  The  fertile  soil  and  the  mild  climate  lent  them- 
selves unstintingly  to  farming  and  to  the  development  of  extensive 
agricultural  pursuits.  The  rivers  and  smaller  streams  served  as 
convenient  highways  and  often  as  the  only  means  of  communica- 
tion. Along  these  the  earliest  settlers  took  up  large  tracts  of  land. 
From  the  beginning,  therefore,  the  tendency  was  necessarily 
toward  rural  rather  than  urban  life.  With  no  towns,  no  diversity 
of  pursuits,  and  with  a  population  widely  dispersed  over  vast 
acreages,  compact  communities  were  impossible,  and  local  com- 
munity interest  in  schools  and  the  means  of  education  was 
naturally  slow  to  show  itself.  Through  the  agricultural  and 
plantation  system  class  distinctions  developed  and  became  another 
barrier  to  the  growth  of  a  healthy  interest  in  public  education, 
as  that^Term  is  known  lodav.  With  the  introduction  of  white 
indentured  servants  and  of  negro  slaves  (who  became  useful  and 
profitable  in  communities  where  agriculture  was  such  a  promising 
pursuit)  thesejdistinctions  began  early  to  develop,  became  greatly 
pronounced,  and  persisted  in  most  of  the  Southern  States,  though 
they  were  most  noticeable  perhaps  in  South  Carolina  and  Virginia. 

A  The,  conditional  servitnjp  pf  white  pprgnrjg  under  indentures  or 

contracts,  developed  early  in  Virginia  a  servile  class  which  came 
to  be  an  important  element  in  Southern  society.  As  a  rule  these 
servants  were  transported  convicts,  political  offenders,  and  orphans 

Ior  other  children  kidnaped  by  adventurers  and  sold  to  the  South- 
ern planters,  who  bound  them  to  labor  for  a  term  of  years. 
Throughout  the  seventeenth  century  the  importation  of  white 
servants  was  encouraged,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  more 
numerous  in  Virginia  than  in  any  other  colony.  As  late  as  1698, 

(however,  South  Carolina  enacted  a  law  encouraging  the  importa- 
tion of  white  servants  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  forty  and 
prescribing  their  term  of  service. 

*  The  institution  of  negro  slavery  extended  gradually  and  like- 

^  *     wise  became  influential  in  Southern  life.    By  the  middle  of  the 

eighteenth   century   African   slaves   constituted   fully   half   the 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE      23 

population  of  Virginia.  Almost  from  its  origin  South  Carolina 
was  essentially  an  agricultural  and  planting  colony  with  slave 
labor,  and  by^the  revolutionary  period  two  thirds  qf  its  ppr»i]a- 
tion  consisted  of  negroes.  The  two  main  classes  were  the  planters 
and  the  slaves,  the  latter  constituting  the  foundation  and  the  main 
support  of  the  colony's  entire  industrial  system.  The  indentured 
servant  class  was  not  so  numerous  as  in  Virginia,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Germans  and  the  Scotch-Irish,  the  small  land- 
owners and  the  poor  white  people  were  not  numerous.  By  1765 
there  was  a  comparatively  large  body  of  African  slaves  in  North 
Carolina,  but  the  white  indentured  servants  were  few.  Large 
plantations  were  not  so  numerous  as  in  Virginia  or  South  Carolina, 
and  the  mass  of  the  population  were  small  landowners.  The 
blacks  became  more  or  less  numerous  in  Georgia,  and  after  it 
became  a  royal  colony  in  1752  the  indentured  white  servants 
differed  in  almost  no  respect  from  those  of  the  other  colonies 
except  perhaps  in  smaller  numbers. 

The  maintenance  of  the  Established  Church  as  a  part  of  the 
social  system  was  also  a  contributing  cause  of  the  slow  educa- 
tional growth  in  the  South,  where  it  had  large  power  in  the  life  of 
the  people.  In  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  the  English  Church  was 
provided  for  by  the  charters,  formally  established  by  legislative 
enactment  later,  and  remained  established  until  the  revolutionary 
period.  The  case  was  different  in  Georgia,  however,  which  opened 
only  two  score  years  before  the  revolt  from  the  mother  country. 
The  charter  of  that  colony  in  1732  guaranteed  liberty  of  conscience 
and  the  free  exercise  of  religion  to  all  persons  except  Papists. 
Quarrels  between  the  trustees  and  the  colonists  resulted  twenty 
years  later  in  the  abrogation  of  the  charter  and  the  royal  as- 
sumption of  the  government,  and  the  English  Church  was  im- 
mediately established  in  the  colony.  It  was  destined,  however, 
to  a  short  life. 

Elaborate  legislative  measures  were  early  enacted  in  Virginia 
for  the  support  of  the  Establishment,  and  these  were  rigidly  en- 
forced. The  Church  grew  more  intolerant  and  hostile  to  liberty 


•TV 

24  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

as  the  population  increased,  and  proved  a  source  of  increasing  an- 
noyance and  burden  to  the  people  for  many  years  prior  to  the 
Revolution.  Quakers  were  punished  in  the  pillory  "for  wearing 
hats  in  church";  juries  of  matrons  were  appointed  "to  fumble 
over  the  bodies  of  old  women  for  'witch  marks'";  under  the  law 
heretics  could  be  burned ;  denial  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
was  legally  punishable  by  three  years'  imprisonment;  Unitarians 
could  be  deprived  of  the  custody  of  their  children ;  the  Establish- 
ment became  unwilling  to  allow  any  religious  services  except  its 
own ;  nonconformists  were  forced  to  contribute  to  the  support 
of  a  religion  which  they  did  not  profess ;  and  arrest  and  imprison- 
ment of  dissenters  became  prevalent  just  before  the  Revolution. 
Moreover,  the  development  of  a  spiritual  tyranny  bred  among  the 
people  a  keen  sense  of  injustice,  and  many  of  them  came  to  hate 
the  Establishment. 

In  North  Carolina  the  Established  Church  was  less  powerful 
than  in  Virginia,  although  its  establishment  was  provided  for  in 
the  early  charters  of  the  colony.  Religious  toleration  was  never- 
theless guaranteed,  and  this  provision  attracted  numerous  settlers. 
The  great  majority  of  the  people  were  dissenters,  and  there  grew 
up  a  widespread  and  popular  unwillingness  among  them  to  be 
taxed  to  support  a  religion  not  their  own.  In  the  main  the  same 
was  true  of  South  Carolina,  though  the  Establishment  was  more 
strongly  intrenched  there.  Even  in  that  colony,  however,  the 
injustice  of  taxing  the  majority  of  the  people  to  support  the 
religion  of  the  minority  created  dissatisfaction  and  caused  various 
religious  questions  to  become  involved  in  many  political  struggles. 

With  the  dawn  of  the  Revolution  and  the  national  period  meas- 
ures were  adopted  which  severed  the  Church  from  the  State. 
In  Virginia  this  separation  formed  a  part  of  the  reform  program 
of  Jefferson  and  his  colaborers  which  was  set  in  motion  soon  after 
independence  was  gained.  The  bill  of  rights  of  the  Constitution  of 
1776  declared  that  "all  men  are  equally  entitled  to  the  free  exer- 
cise of  religion,  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience,"  but 
beyond  this  that  instrument  contained  no  religious  provisions.  In 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  25 

1777  Jefferson  prepared  a  bill  establishing  religious  freedom,  but  it 
was  not  reported  to  the  Assembly  until  1779  and  was  not  enacted 
into  law  until  1785.  The  act  was  so  comprehensive,  however, 
as  to  deserve  a  place  among  "the  great  charters  of  human 
liberty." 

In  North  Carolina  the  Establishment  "died  of  inanition."  The 
Vestry  Act  of  1768  was  the  last  legislative  attempt  to  perpetuate 
an  endowed  church  in  the  colony  at  the  expense  of  other  religious 
denominations,  and  with  the  constitution  of  1776  the  divorce 
of  the  Church  from  the  State  became  complete.  The  Establish- 
ment gradually  weakened  in  South  Carolina  also,  which,  under  the 
constitution  of  1778,  freely  tolerated  all  persons  and  religious 
denominations  "who  acknowledge  that  there  is  one  God  and  a 
future  State  of  reward  and  punishment,  and  that  God  is  publicly  to 
be  worshiped,"  and  guaranteed  equal  religious  and  civil  privileges 
to  all  Protestant  denominations.  The  constitution  of  Georgia 
in  1777  conceded  full  religious  freedom  to  all  persons,  "provided 
it  be  not  repugnant  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State." 

Before  the  enactment  of  these  measures  to  sever  the  Church 
from  the  State,  however,  frequent  religious  dissensions  had  served 
to  delay  cooperation  in  education.  Moreover,  the  need  for  schools 
did  not  appear  to  be  keenly  felt  by  those  in  authority.  The  clergy, 
often  described  as  a  "picturesque"  class  in  colonial  times,  had 
constituted  in  large  measure  the  only  class  which  professed  learn- 
ing; and  many  of  the  colonial  schoolmasters  had  been  the  mis- 
sionaries, ministers,  or  lay  readers  of  the  Church.  Many  of  the 
clergy  no  doubt  had  influence  as  representatives  of  a  great  and 
powerful  institution ;  but  their  picturesqueness  was  often  due  more 
to  their  manifold  shortcomings  and  vices  than  to  their  virtues  or 
the  extent  of  their  good  works.  Furthermore,  the  reproduction  in 
some  of  the  colonies  of  the  tyrannical  Schism  Act  of  1714,  which 
required  the  license  of  the  Bishop  of  London  as  a  qualification  for 
giving  instruction  in  any  form,  hindered  educational  development 
by  making  it  difficult  for  dissenters  to  provide  educational  facilities 
for  their  own  children. 


26  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

With  agriculture  as  the  mainstay  of  the  Southern  colonists  and 
with  the  large  plantations  in  great  measure  self-sustaining  com- 
munities, the  planters  soon  became  economically  independent. 
The  reciprocity  of  needs  and  services,  so  essential  to  the  develop- 
ment of  community  enterprises,  was  not  widely  known.  With  the 
industrial  system  of  the  South  resting  on  the  institution  of  slavery, 
political  power  was  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands  of  the  planters, 
shaqTsocial  distinctions  were  inevitable,  and  the  South  naturally 
became  aristocratic.  This  condition  tended  to  retardthe  growth 
of  a  strong  middle  class^jyith  which  free  public-school  systems 
always  originate.  Moreover,  the  Establishment,  through  its 
meUiods^lts  claims,  and  its  arrogance,  and  the  ecclesiastical  evils 
which  followed  it,  delayed  the  growth  of  a  pure  religious  liberty, 
as  that  principle  has  become  embedded  in  the  American  mind, 
and  delayed  also  the  appearance  of  the  proper  conception  of 
education  as  a  vital  community  interest. 

In  spite  of  the  ecclesiastical  evils  of  the  time  educational 
interests  were  at  least  indirectly  promoted  through  the  work  of  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  an 
auxiliary  of  the  Established  Church.  This  organization  was  one 
of  the  most  prominent  of  the  charitable  and  religious  agencies  at 
work  among  the  Anglican  colonies  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
through  it  better-trained  ministers  were  supplied,  churches  were 
established  and  revived,  and  provision  was  made  for  training 
children  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  rln  all  the  English  colonies 
in  the  South  except  Virginia  the  Society  established  missions, 
libraries,  and  schools  and  supported  school-teachers,  but  its  work 
was  most  extensive  in  South  Carolina,  where  it  began  in  1705. 
r  The  purpose  of  all  the  schools  set  up  by  this  agency  was  essen- 
tially moral  and  religious.  The  curriculum  showed  a  distinctly 
religious  character,  and  the  instructions  to  the  schoolmasters 
were  injunctions  to  piety  and  holy  living.  Primers,  hornbooks, 
ABC  books,  and  spellers  were  used  for  the  beginners,  but  the 
more  advanced  children  studied  the  church  catechism,  the  Psalter, 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the  Bible,  and  "  The  Whole  Duty  of 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  27 

Man."/  The  purpose  of  education  under  the  Society  was  "not  only 
to  fit  the  young  for  the  business  of  life,  but  to  make  them  moral 
and  religious  beings."  The  children  were  taught  "to  believe  and 
to  live  as  Christians,  to  read  truly  and  distinctly,  to  write  a 
plain  and  legible  hand  in  order  to  fit  them  for  useful  employ- 
ments, with  as  much  arithmetic  as  shall  be  necessary  to  the  same 
purpose."  The  educational  work  of  the  Society  probably  fur- 
nished the  nearest  approach  to  public-school  organization  found 
in  the  South  before  the  Revolution. 

The  Society  also  established  libraries  in  the  colonies.  Many  of 
these  were  set  up  through  the  immediate  influence  of  Thomas 
Bray,  founder  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  organization  and  later 
the  Bishop  of  London's  commissary  in  Maryland.  He  came  to 
America  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the 
establishment  of  parish  or  public  libraries  soon  became  a  part  of 
his  larger  scheme  of  educational  and  religious  activity.  f'The 
colonial  legislatures  cooperated  in  this  work  and  sought  to  en- 
courage it.  As  early  as  1700  the  Assembly  of  South  Carolina 
passed  an  act  for  securing  and  preserving  a  library  at  Charleston, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  public  library  established  in 
America.  It  originally  contained  more  than  two  hundred  volumes, 
which  were  largely  of  a  religious  character,  and  two  years  later1 
further  additions  were  made  to  it.  ^)The  only  library  which 
Dr.  Bray  gave  to  North  Carolina  was  established  at  Bath,  where 
it  seems  to  have  been  properly  cared  for  and  used.  In  1715  the 
Assembly  passed  the  only  act  which  looked  to  the  encouragement 
of  learning  during  the  proprietary  period  and  which  concerned 
the  preservation  of  this  library.  The  act  was  very  similar  to  the 
earlier  one  passed  in  South  Carolina. 

These  and  other  evidences  of  educational  interest  and  culture 
in  the  Southern  colonies  were  in  part  stimulated  in  the  manner 
just  described.  Through  these  agencies  the  charity-school  idea 
prevailed  very  widely,  and  charity  schools  of  the  Church  became 
somewhat  numerous  in  the  South  before  the  close  of  the  colonial 
period.  In  many  cases  also  there  was  a  remarkable  eagerness 


28  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

among  the  colonists  to  extend  to  their  children  and  those  of  their 
neighbors  opportunities  to  acquire  some  kind  of  an  education,  how- 
ever meager  it  might  be.  Evidence  of  that  desire  may  be  seen  in 
the  last  wills  and  testaments  of  the  period  and  in  the  numerous 
endowments  or  foundations  for  schools.  Even  here,  however,  may 
be  seen  the  element  of  charity  or  philanthropy  which  was  in- 
herited from  England  and  encouraged  by  the  work  of  the  Church 
through  its  missionary  and  charitable  agencies  in  the  colonies — a 
work  which  stimulated  the  benevolence  of  public-spirited  persons. 

The  wills  of  the  period  not  only  show  an  early  interest  in 
education  but  serve  as  evidence  that  various  educational  facili- 
ties were  in  existence,  through  the  tutorial  system  or  private 
schools.  As  early  as  1640  John  Waltham,  of  Accomac  County, 
Virginia,  directed  that  his  son  should  be  placed,  at  the  age  of  six 
years,  under  the  instruction  of  a  "good  and  godlye  schoolmaster" 
and  remain  under  his  teacher's  guidance  until  he  reached  the  age 
of  eighteen.  The  expenses  of  this  instruction  were  to  be  provided 
from  the  income  of  the  property  inherited  by  the  boy.  Nicholas 
Granger,  of  the  same  county,  provided  for  the  education  of  his 
daughter  in  the  same  manner.  Similar  provisions  were  made  in 
the  Carolinas  and  in  Georgia.  In  some  cases  money  was  set 
aside  by  the  direction  of  wills  for  the  education  of  relatives ;  some- 
times the  proceeds  of  the  labor  of  slaves  were  stipulated  as  means 
of  furnishing  educational  facilities;  often  the  property  set  aside 
for  definite  educational  purposes  was  cattle,  and  sometimes  it  was 
tobacco  or  other  produce. 

Endowments  or  foundations  for  the  support  of  charity  or  free 
schools  were  likewise  numerous.  The  English  origin  and  an- 
tecedents of  the  representative  Southern  colonists  explain  attempts 
to  provide  schools  by  this  means.  As  a  partial  remedy  for  the 
wretched  conditions  of  the  working  classes,  there  sprang  up  in 
England  numerous  charity  schools  intended  in  the  main  for  the 
children  of  the  poor.  Many  of  them  were  endowed,  while  some 
of  them  were  supported  by  private  donations.  Many  of  the 
colonists  were  acquainted  with  this  educational  custom,  which  had 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  29 

a  natural  growth  in  America,  where  it  furnished  more  or  less  ex- 
tensive means  of  acquiring  an  elementary  education. 

The  earliest  example  of  this  type  of  school  is  found  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1619-1620,  when  the  sum  of  £550  was  given  to  the 
treasurer  of  the  London  Company  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a 
school  for  furnishing  instruction  to  a  "convenient  number"  of 
Indian  youth,  who  were  to  be  early  taught  reading  and  the  Chris- 
tian doctrines  and  later  some  useful  handicraft.  Another  attempt 
was  made  about  the  same  time  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a 
school  for  the  white  children  of  Virginia ;  it  was  to  be  called  the 
East  India  School.  Plans  were  made  for  opening  both  of  these 
schools,  but  they  were  interrupted  by  the  Indian  massacre  of 
1622  and  were  never  established. 

The  plans  were  influential  in  establishing  other  schools,  how- 
ever, which  are  now  known  in  American  educational  history  as  the 
Symms  School  and  the  Eaton  School.  By  the  will  of  Benjamin 
Symms,  which  was  dated  February,  1634-1635,  valuable  property 
was  set  apart  to  establish  a  free  school  in  Elizabeth  City  County, 
Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  the  means  of  free  education 
to  the  children  of  that  county.  Eight  years  later  the  Assembly 
enacted  legislation  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  benefactor,  and  the 
act  showed  "  the  high  appreciation  of  education  prevailing  in  Vir- 
ginia in  these  early  times,  and  the  gratitude  felt  for  every  bene- 
faction looking  to  its  advancement."  This  bequest  preceded  John 
Harvard's  famous  gift  for  the  institution  which  bears  his  name ;  and 
the  school  founded  on  the  Symms  endowment  has  been  called  "  the 
earliest  foundation  for  free  education  made  in  English  America  by 
a  citizen  of  an  English  colony."  The  example  of  Symms  was  soon 
followed  by  Thomas  Eaton,  a  physician  of  the  same  county,  who 
gave  five  hundred  acres  of  land  and  other  property  as  a  founda- 
tion of  a  free  school  similar  to  the  one  established  by  Symms. 
Both  schools  had  long  and  useful  careers  as  separate  institutions 
and  provided  educational  facilities  for  a  large  number  of  chil- 
dren. In  1805  they  were  combined  and  incorporated  as  Hampden 
Academy.  In  1852  the  fund  from  these  endowments  amounted  to 


30  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

$10,000,  and  it  is  still  preserved  separate  from  the  school  fund 
of  the  State.  It  is  probable  that  these  schools  became  models 
for  other  communities  in  Virginia  and  that  other  schools  of  a 
similar  character  were  founded  there  during  colonial  times. 

Examples  of  endowments  for  educational  purposes,  of  a  some- 
what later  period,  are  found  in  North  Carolina.  In  1744  James 
Winwright,  of  Carteret  County,  left  by  his  will  certain  valuable 
property  in  Beaufort  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  for  the  support  of 
a  school  in  that  town.  Provision  was  made  for  a  schoolhouse 
and  for  the  teacher's  residence ;  but  the  master  was  not  obliged  to 
take  under  his  care  any  pupils  "imposed  on  him"  by  the  trustees 
who  were  provided  for  in  the  will,  but  he  was  to  be  free  to  teach 
such  and  as  many  as  he  thought  convenient  and  to  receive  such 
compensation  for  his  teaching  "as  he  and  the  persons  tendering 
them  shall  agree."  Ten  years  later  James  Innes,  of  New  Hanover 
County,  bequeathed  a  plantation,  some  slaves,  horses,  and  cattle, 
some  books,  and  £100  sterling  for  the  use  of  a  free  school  "for 
the  benefit  of  the  youth  of  North  Carolina."  A  school  was  finally 
chartered  in  Wilmington  on  this  foundation. 

Similar  educational  interest  appeared  in  South  Carolina,  al- 
though only  slight  mention  is  made  of  it  before  1710.  In  that 
year  the  Assembly  passed  an  act  "founding  and  erecting  a  free 
school  for  the  use  of  the  inhabitants  of  South  Carolina,"  the  pre- 
amble of  which  stated  that  "several  charitable  and  well  disposed 
Christians,  by  their  last  wills  and  testaments,  have  given  several 
sums  of  money  for  the  founding  of  a  free  school,  but  no  person 
as  yet  is  authorized  to  take  the  charge  and  care  of  erecting  a 
free  school,  according  to  the  intent  of  the  donors."  The  act  named 
the  trustees  and  empowered  them  to  select  a  site  and  to  build  a 
schoolhouse  and  dwelling  houses  "and  buildings  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  several  masters  and  teachers."  Provision  was 
also  made  for  a  master,  who  was  required  to  show  ability  to  teach 

reek  and  Latin  and  "the  useful  parts  of  mathematics."  Other 
legacies  were  given  for  the  purpose  of  providing  for  the  educa- 
tion of  poor  children.  Among  these  endowments  were  those  of 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE      31 

Dave  Williams,  for  a  school  in  Charleston ;  John  Whitmarsh,  for 
a  school  in  St.  Paul's  Parish ;  James  Child,  for  a  free  school  and 
master's  residence  in  St.  John's  Parish;  and  Richard  Ludlam, 
for  a  school  for  poor  children  in  St.  James's  Parish.  The  primary 
object  of  the  Ludlam  bounty  was  to  instruct  children  in  the 
Christian  doctrines  and  "such  other  things  as  are  suitable  to  their 
capacity."]  For  nearly  a  century  this  endowment  supported  four 
schools,  and  as  late  as  the  Civil  War  it  amounted  to  quite  a 
substantial  sum. 

(  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  bequest  for  educa-  v 
tion  in  South  Carolina  during  the  colonial  period  was  that  of  Rich- 
ard Beresford,  who  left  a  large  sum  in  1722  for  educating  poor 
children  in  St.  Thomas's  Parish.  The  school  set  up  on  this 
foundation  continued  to  render  a  creditable  service  until  the  Rev- 
olution, which  interrupted  the  work  of  the  school  and  caused  a 
loss  of  a  part  of  the  fund)  The  institution  began  in  1783,  how- 
ever, and  continued  until  1861,  when  the  Civil  War  broke  into 
its  operation.  The  school  was  later  reopened  and  had  a  healthy 
life  until  near  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Up  to  that 
time  the  fund  had  been  carefully  managed  and  had  gradually 
increased. 

(  These  were  examples  of  individual  philanthropy  in  behalf  of  \ 
education  in  colonial  South  Carolina.  Certain  societies  were  also 
interested  in  providing  and  promoting  educational  facilities  in  that 
colony.  The  most  novel  of  these  was  the  Winyaw  Indigo  So- 
ciety, which  was  founded  about  1 740  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
the  cultivation  of  indigo,  one  of  the  principal  staples  of  the  time. 
The  society  was  formed  largely  as  a  "convivial  club"  by  certain 
planters  who  met  in  Georgetown  on  the  first  Friday  in  each  month 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  latest  London  news,  "to  hold 
high  discourse  over  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  indigo  plant, 
and  to  refresh  the  inner  man,  and  so  to  keep  up  to  a  proper 
standard  the  endearing  ties  of  social  life  by  imbibing  freely  of  the 
inevitable  bowl  of  punch."  )  The  manner  in  which  the  members  of 
the  society  became  interested  in  education  is  worth  noting : 


32  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

From  the  initiation  fees  and  annual  contributions  it  came  to  pass 
that  about  the  year  1753  the  exchequer  became  plethoric  of  gold,  and 
the  hearts  of  our  founders  overflowed  with  the  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness. .  .  .  And  hence  it  became  the  question  of  the  hour,  to  what 
good  purpose  shall  we  devote  our  surplus  funds?  As  the  tale  runs, 
the  discussion  was  brief,  pertinent,  and  solid.  At  the  close  of  it  the 
presiding  officer  called  on  the  members  to  fill  their  glasses ;  he  wished 
to  close  the  debate  by  a  definite  proposition ;  if  it  met  their  approba- 
tion, each  member  would  signify  it  by  emptying  his  glass.  He  said : 
"There  may  be  intellectual  food  which  the  present  state  of  society  is 
not  fit  to  partake  of;  to  lay  such  before  it  would  be  as  absurd  as  to 
give  a  quadrant  to  an  Indian ;  but  knowledge  is  indeed  as  necessary  as 
light,  and  ought  to  be  as  common  as  water  and  as  free  as  air.  It  has 
7  been  wisely  ordered  that  light  should  have  no  color,  water  no  taste,  and 
/  air  no  odor ;  so  indeed,  knowledge  should  be  equally  pure  and  without 
'  J  admixture  of  creed  or  cant.  I  move,  therefore,  that  the  surplus  funds 
in  the  treasury  be  devoted  to  the  establishment  of  an  independent 
charity  school  for  the  poor."  The  meeting  rose  to  its  feet.  The 
glasses  were  each  turned  down  without  soiling  the  linen,  and  the 
Winyaw  Indigo  Society  was  established.  Such,  in  brief,  was  the  origin 
of  a  society  whose  school  has  been  the  school  for  all  the  country 
lying  between  Charleston  and  the  North  Carolina  line  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years.  In  its  infancy  it  supplied  the  place  of  primary 
school,  high  school,  grammar  school,  and  collegiate  institute.  The 
rich  and  the  poor  alike  drank  from  this  fountain  of  knowledge,  and  the 
farmer,  the  planter,  the  mechanic,  the  artisan,  the  general  of  armies, 
lawyers,  doctors,  priests,  senators,  and  governors  of  States,  have  each 
looked  back  to  the  Winyaw  Indigo  Society  as  the  grand  source  of 
their  success  or  other  distinction.  To  many  it  was  the  only  source  of 
education.  Here  they  began,  here  they  ended  that  disciplinary  course 
which  was  their  only  preparation  for  the  stern  conflicts  of  life.1 

From  1756  until  1861  the  school  founded  by  this  society  had 
a  very  successful  career,  and  twenty-five  or  more  children  were 
annually  educated  in  it.  The  annual  dues  of  the  members  of 
the  Society,  private  benefactions,  and  the  proceeds  of  escheated 
lands  greatly  increased  the  available  income,  and  many  poor 

aFrom  the  Rules  of  the  Winyaw  Indigo  Society,  Charleston,  1874.  See 
also  Meriwether,  The  History  of  Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina. 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  33 

children  were  maintained  as  well  as  educated.  The  trustees  al- 
lowed the  principal  to  receive  a  certain  number  of  pay  scholars 
in  addition  to  the  pupils  for  whom  the  school  was  originally  de- 
signed, and  for  teaching  these  he  was  allowed  an  extra  salary 
of  $600  in  addition  to  his  annual  salary  of  $1000.  The  school 
became  well  known  and  was  patronized  by  the  people  of  a  large 
area  of  country,  but  the  Civil  War  practically  destroyed  the  value 
of  the  invested  funds,  and  the  school  building  was  occupied  for 
over  a  year  by  the  Federal  troops. 

During  this  time  its  library  was  scattered  and  some  of  the  books 
were  never  recovered.  When  the  organization  was  allowed  pos- 
session of  the  building  again  funds  were  raised  as  a  beginning 
of  a  new  endowment.  A  part  of  this  was  used  for  making  repairs 
on  the  building,  and  the  balance  was  expended  for  deficiencies  in 
teachers'  salaries.  But  the  work  of  the  school  continued  from 
1866  to  1886,  during  which  time  it  educated  ten  poor  children 
annually.  At  the  latter  date  it  was  incorporated  as  one  of  the 
public  graded  schools  of  the  State,  but  the  Society  continued  its 
educational  work  for  many  years  after  1886.  About  1892  or 
1893,  however,  "it  relinquished  control  of  the  graded  school 
system,  which  it  had  previously  held  under  a  special  statute, 
and  gave  the  use  of  its  building  to  the  school  trustees,  free  of 
rent.  This  arrangement  lasted  for  a  few  years,  when  the  school 
district  erected  a  building  of  its  own.  Since  that  time  the  Society 
has  done  no  educational  work,  but  still  retains  its  existence  and 
organization."1  \ 

Other  societies  in  South  Carolina  fostered  education  as  a  part  i/ 
of  a  general  plan  of  charity  during  the  colonial  period.  One  of 
the  oldest  and  the  most  prominent  of  these  was  the  South  Carolina 
Society  of  Charleston.  This  was  organized  in  1737  as  the  "  French 
Club"  by  a  group  of  French  Protestants  who  met  weekly  for 
mutual  advantage.  Later  the  members  agreed  upon  a  weekly 
contribution  as  a  fund  to  be  used  to  relieve  the  distress  of  any  of 

1From  a  statement  made  by  Walter  Hazard,  Esq.,  of  Georgetown, 
South  Carolina,  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  November  u,  1916. 


34  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

their  number,  and  the  organization  became  known  as  the  "Two- 
bit  Club."  In  1751  it  was  incorporated  as  the  South  Carolina 
Society  and  existed  as  a  semieducational  corporation  for  almost 
a  century.  Teachers  were  employed  and  poor  children  of  both 
sexes  were  educated  and,  in  some  cases,  maintained.  No  children 
under  eight  years  of  age  were  admitted  and  none  were  retained 
beyond  the  age  of  fourteen,  the  girls  not  beyond  twelve.  When 
children  were  dismissed  their  places  were  immediately  filled  by 
the  admission  of  others.)  With  the  rise  of  the  public-school  system 
in  Charleston,  after  1880,  the  educational  feature  of  the  Society 
was  discontinued,  and  its  funds  were  devoted  entirely  to  the 
support  of  the  families  of  its  members.  At  that  time  it  had  a 
/substantial  endowment  and  owned  creditable  buildings. 
/  The  idea  of  charitable  education  was  more  or  less  natural  in 
colonial  Georgia  also,  because  of  the  philanthropic  motives  of 
its  organization.  This  settlement  was  made  in  1732  under  the 
direction  of  James  Oglethorpe,  a  "gentleman  of  unblemished 
character,  brave,  generous,  and  humane."  He  was  chairman  of  a 
committee  in  the  English  House  of  Commons  appointed  to  visit 
the  prisons  and  to  examine  penal  conditions  and  to  suggest  re- 
forms. As  a  result  of  the  investigation,  which  revealed  gross 
injustice  and  mismanagement,  but  also  through  his  public  spirit 
and  charitable  design,  there  began  a  movement  to  alleviate  the 
"miserable  national  grievance"  and  to  purify  prison  manage- 
ment. While  Oglethorpe  was  engaged  in  this  investigation  the 
idea  of  an  American  colony  occurred  to  him  as  a  means  of  afford- 
ing opportunity  to  the  honestly  unfortunate  to  retrieve  their 
fortunes  and  to  begin  new  lives.  The  colony  of  Georgia  was  the 
result  of  the  benevolent  plan. 

The  earliest  educational  effort  in  that  colony  was  in  the  form 
of  mission  schools,  which  were  established  by  the  Moravians  for 
the  purpose  of  furnishing  religious  instruction  to  the  Indians. 
These  schools  had  only  a  short  life,  however,  and  came  to  an  end 
in  1738,  when  the  Moravian  settlement  moved  to  Pennsylvania. 
But  when  the  original  towns  of  the  colony  were  laid  out  large 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  35 

tracts  of  land  were  set  apart  by  the  trustees  for  church  and 
school  support.  Schools  were  maintained  by  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  by  the  trustees,  and 
by  charitable  friends  of  the  colony.  These  were  found  in  Savan- 
nah and  in  other  places.  In  1754  Georgia  became  a  royal  province, 
and  an  agreement  was  made  by  which  the  crown  promised  to 
continue  the  "allowance  heretofore  usually  given  by  the  trustees 
to  a  minister  and  two  schoolmasters."  This  agreement  was  main- 
tained until  the  Revolution  and  is  "  the  only  case  on  record  where 
the  Parliament  of  England  supported  schools  in  the  colonies." 

The  most  notable  example  of  educational  effort  in  Georgia  be- 
fore it  acquired  statehood,  however,  was  the  work  of  the  Bethesda 
Orphan  House,  which  was  established  by  George  Whitefield  and 
James  Habersham  in  1739.  The  idea  of  the  institution  was  sug- 
gested to  Whitefield  by  Charles  Wesley,  who  convinced  the  evan- 
gelist of  the  need  of  such  a  school,  the  plan  of  which  seems  to  have 
been  an  imitation  of  Francke's  remarkable  educational  and  char- 
itable institution  in  Halle.  Whitefield  secured  a  large  tract  of  land 
from  the  trustees  of  the  colony  and  then  began  preaching  and 
soliciting  funds  for  the  erection  of  buildings.  His  efforts  were  very 
successful  and  he  was  soon  able  to  open  the  school.1 

Much  interest  centered  in  the  institution,  which  soon  became 
very  useful  in  the  maintenance  and  education  of  orphans  and 
poor  children,  who  were  taught  such  trades  as  carpentering,  weav- 
ing, and  tailoring,  as  well  as  the  elements  of  a  literary  education. 
In  1764  Whitefield  sought  to  convert  the  institution  into  "a  sem- 
inary of  literature  and  academical  learning,"  and  for  that  purpose 
memorialized  the  provincial  authorities.  They  approved  the  plan, 
and  Whitefield  went  to  England  to  secure  the  charter  from  the 
crown,  but  his  petition  was  refused.  He  then  hoped  to  convert 
Bethesda  into  an  academy  similar  in  plan  to  Franklin's  at 
Philadelphia,  but  this  plan  failed  also,  and  he  died  in  1770 

lfThe  reader  will  probably  recall,  from  the  "Autobiography,"  the  amus- 
ing story  of  Whitefield's  success  in  inducing  Benjamin  Franklin  to  empty 
his  pockets  to  aid  the  Bethesda  Orphan  House. 


36  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

without  ever  fully  realizing  the  favorite  ambition  of  his  life. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  Orphan  House  was  burned,  and  although 
it  was  rebuilt  and  work  in  it  resumed,  its  active  work  soon 
ceased.  In  1791  the  estate  passed  into  the  hands  of  trustees,  and 
in  1808  it  was  sold  and  settled  by  legislative  authority  and  the 
proceeds  were  distributed  to  certain  charitable  institutions  in 
Savannah.  A  part  was  given  to  the  Savannah  Poorhouse  and 
Hospital  Society,  a  part  to  the  Union  Society  of  Savannah, 
and  a  part  to  increase  the  funds  of  Chatham  Academy  on  con- 
dition that  it  would  support  and  educate  five  orphan  children  free 
«ff  charge. 

*  There  is  some  evidence  of  educational  interest  on  the  part  of 
the  colonial  assemblies,  though  the  encouragement  of  schools  by 
legislative  assistance  was  not  so  great  as  could  have  been  desired. 
In  1619  and  in  1624  the  London  Company  encouraged  efforts  in 
Virginia  to  establish  institutions  of  learning,  but  both  efforts 
ended  in  failure.  In  1660  the  Assembly  passed  acts  which  looked 
to  founding  an  educational  institution,  and  the  governor  and 
council  headed  the  list  of  subscriptions  of  funds  for  its  support. 
The  plan  failed,  however,  and  it  was  not  until  1692  that  efforts  to 
secure  a  college  in  the  colony  were  rewarded.  In  that  year  William 
and  Mary  College  was  founded  by  royal  charter,  and  gifts  of 
lands  and  money  were  made  and  the  rights  of  certain  colonial  taxes 
allowed  for  its  support.  Donations  were  also  made  by  planters, 
and  considerable  support  came  from  the  Assembly,  which  gave 
the  college  liberal  assistance  and  protection  throughout  the  col- 
onial period.  The  institution  soon  became  the  center  of  learning 
for  the  colony  and  has  had  an  almost  unbroken  career  of  educa- 
tional success  and  usefulness.  Other  acts  of  educational  legisla- 
tion in  colonial  Virginia  dealt  in  the  main  with  the  practice  of 
apprenticing  orphans  and  poor  children,  which  prevailed  in  the 
other  colonies  as  well. 

/  In  North  Carolina  the  first  legislative  action  in  behalf  of  edu- 
yation  was  to  secure  the  provincial  library  mentioned  above.  As 
*n  Virginia,  legislation  was  also  enacted  in  behalf  of  the  poor, 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  37 

and  occasionally  there  was  passed  an  act  of  more  direct  educa- 
tional importance.  Gabriel  Johnston  became  the  royal  governor 
of  North  Carolina  in  1734,  and  during  the  eighteen  years  which 
he  served  in  that  position  he  showed  unusual  interest  in  schools 
and  education.  In  1736  he  made  a  notable  appeal  to  the  As- 
sembly on  this  subject,  and  that  body  responded  with  some 
sympathy,  but  nothing  was  done  until  1745.  In  that  year  an 
act  was  passed  to  build  a  schoolhouse  in  Edenton.  There  is  no 
evidence,  however,  that  the  house  was  ever  built.  Other  attempts 
were  made  from  this  time  until  the  Revolution.  In  1762  the 
Reverend  James  Reed  preached  a  sermon  before  the  Assembly  on 
the  importance  of  education,  which  was  printed  and  distributed  at 
public  expense.  This  was  perhaps  the  first  public  expenditure  for 
education  ever  made  in  North  Carolina.  In  1766  provision  was 
made  for  establishing  a  school  in  New  Bern,  and  with  the  revenue 
from  an  import  duty  on  all  rum  and  other  liquors  brought  into 
the  Neuse  River  for  seven  years  ten  poor  children  were  to  be 
educated  in  it.  This  was  the  first  school  incorporated  by  the 
Assembly  in  North  Carolina  and  likewise  the  first  educational 
law  of  any  importance  passed  in  the  colony.  In  1767  and  1768 
efforts  were  made  to  establish  a  school  in  Edenton,  but  attempted 
legislation  on  the  subject  failed  temporarily  when  the  Assembly 
opposed  the  enforcement  of  the  Schism  Act.  In  1771,  as  a  result 
of  interest  in  the  establishment  of  a  "public  seminary  for  the 
education  of  youth"  in  the  western  part  of  the  colony,  a  charter 
was  granted  to  Queen's  Museum,  or  Queen's  College,  but  the 
charter  was  later  twice  repealed  by  the  king  and  council  on  account 
of  the  Schism  Act.  The  school  seemed  to  flourish  without  a 
charter,  however,  until  1775,  when  the  name  was  changed  to 
Liberty  Hall  Academy,  and  two  years  later  it  received  a  charter 
from  the  State. 

( Besides  the  legislation  to  secure  the  provincial  library  estab- 
lished in  Charleston  in  1700  and  acts  concerning  the  poor,  a  few 
other  educational  acts  were  passed  in  South  Carolina  during  the 
colonial  period.  Among  these  was  an  act  empowering  the  justices 


38  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

of  the  county  and  precinct  courts  to  purchase  lands  and  erect  free 
schools  in  each  county  or  precinct  and  to  assess  the  expenses 
of  such  schools  upon  the  lands  and  slaves  of  each  jurisdiction. 
Masters  "well  skilled  in  the  Latin  tongue"  were  to  be  appointed 
and  were  to  receive  an  annual  salary  of  £25.  Ten  poor  children 
were  to  be  taught  free  of  charge  in  each  school,  provided  they  were 
sent  by  the  justices.  This  law  was  passed  largely  through  the 
interest  of  Governor  Francis  Nicholson,  who  was  very  eager  to 
provide  educational  facilities  for  the  colony.  Later,  in  response  to 
a  petition  from  several  citizens  in  St.  George's  Parish,  an  act  au- 
thorized the  establishment  of  a  free  school  at  Dorchester.  This 
act  has  considerable  historical  interest,  in  that  it  provided  for  the 
education  of  the  children  of  that  place  because  "their  parents 
are  so  well  inclined  to  have  them  instructed  in  grammar  and  other 
liberal  arts  and  sciences,  and  other  useful  learning"  and  because 
they  were  unable  to  send  their  children  to  the  free  school  at 
Charleston. 

In  addition  to  the  educational  agencies  already  noted,  other 
evidences  of  colonial  culture  appeared  in  the  libraries  of  the  period 
and  in  the  importance  attached  to  books.  Many  of  the  colonists 
brought  books  and  libraries  with  them,  and  interest  in  collections 
extended  very  widely.  Valuable  collections  were  built  up  in 
Virginia  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  wills  of  the  time  often 
contained  special  bequests  of  books;  and  inventories  showed 
libraries  and  books  to  have  a  prominent  place  in  the  esteem  of 
carpenters,  blacksmiths,  mechanics,  and  other  laborers,  as  well  as 
of  the  more  prosperous  colonists. 

Similar  interest  was  in  evidence  in  South  Carolina  during  the 
early  colonial  period.  ^The  South  Carolina  Library  Society  had  a 
wide  influence  and  a  long  life  of  usefulness,  and  throughout  the 
larger  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  libraries  were  formed  "at 
many  of  the  court  houses,  as  central  places  of  deposit  for  the 
districts,"  and  enlarged  and  extended  a  taste  for  literature  and 
reading.  Many  of  the  planters  had  respectable  libraries,  and 
the  booksellers  of  the  period  spoke  of  the  sale  of  books  as 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE      39 

"progressively  increasing."     Schoolbooks  and  volumes  that  "treat 
of  religion"  appeared  to  be  the  greatest  in  demand. 

In  North  Carolina  libraries  afforded  opportunity .  for  culti- 
vating a  taste  for  books  and  reading  and  for  fostering  an  educa- 
tional sentiment.  Among  the  most  notable  private  libraries  were 
the  collections  of  Edward  Moseley  and  of  Samuel  Johnston,  who 
for  many  years  were  leading  figures  in  the  colony.  Moseley's 
collection  at  Edenton  numbered  four  hundred  volumes,  many 
of  which  were  folios  and  bound  in  sheep.  Johnston's  library 
consisted  of  nearly  five  hundred  volumes  of  history  and  poli- 
tics, biography,  travels,  philosophy,  essays,  and  miscellaneous 
literature,  encyclopedias,  grammars,  poetry,  and  drama.  In  the 
eastern  part  of  the  colony  there  were  many  other  more  or  less 
important  collections ;  and  in  the  western  section,  where  many 
Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  'emigrated  after  1746,  a  great  many 
private  libraries  were  built  up.  This  evidence  of  educational 
interest  began  to  appear  in  Georgia  also  prior  to  the  Revolution.1 

Although  the  colonists  in  the  South  had  a  rather  wide  interest 
in  many  cultural  and  educational  agencies,  conditions  did  not 
promote  the  early  establishment  of  printing  presses  and  news- 
papers in  that  region.  Printing  presses  were  set  up  and  newspapers 
founded  earlier  in  New  England,  for  example,  very  largely  because 
of  the  different  conditions  of  settlement  and  of  government,  and 
other  influences  which  promoted  educational  facilities  generally  in 
that  section.  It  may  be  helpful  to  note  here  the  dates  of  the 
establishment  of  the  press  and  of  the  earliest  newspapers  in  the 
various  colonies. 

(The  printing  press  was  permanently  set  up  in.) Massachusetts 
in  1638;  Pennsylvania  in  1686;  New  York  in  1693  ;  Connecticut 
in  1709;  Maryland  in  1726;^  South  Carolina  in  1730;)  Rhode 
Island  in  1732;  Virginia  in  1733;  North  Carolina  in  1749; 
New  Jersey  in  1751;  New  Hampshire  in  1756;  Delaware  in 
1761 ;  Georgia  in  1762.  There  is  evidence  that  there  was  a  press 

1  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 


40  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

in  Virginia  as  early  as  1681,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  speedily 
prohibited,  and  a  permanent  press  was  not  established  in  that 
colony  until  1733.  The  earliest  newspapers  in  the  colonies  ap- 
peared as  follows :  the  Boston  News  Letter,  at  Boston,  in  1 704 ; 
the  American  Weekly  Mercury,  at  Philadelphia,  in  1719;  the 
New  York  Gazette,  at  New  York,  in  1725  ;  the  Maryland  Gazette, 
at  Annapolis,  in  1727  ;  the  Rhode  Island  Gazette,  at  Newport,  in 
1732;  the  South  Carolina  Gazette,  at  Charleston,  in  1732;  the 
Virginia  Gazette,  at  Williamsburg,  in  1736;  the  Connecticut 
Gazette,  at  New  Haven,  in  1755  ;  the  North  Carolina  Gazette,  at 
New  Bern,  in  1755  ;  the  New  Hampshire  Gazette,  at  Portsmouth, 
in  1756;  the  Wilmington  Courant,  at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  in 
1762  ;  the  Georgia  Gazette,  at  Savannah,  in  1763 ;  and  the  New 
Jersey  Gazette,  at  Burlington,  in  I777-1 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  general  statement  that  education  in 
the  South  during  colonial  days  was  by  no  means  neglected  by 
the  colonists  themselves,  although  governmental  provision  for 
schools  was  not  extensive.  Schools  were  not  yet  regarded,  how- 
ever, as  a  function  of  the  State.  The  Southern  colonies  thus 
officially  reflected  that  indifference  to  the  education  of  the  masses 
which  prevailed  in  England  during  that  time.  Practically  the 
only  interest  of  the  government  in  education  appeared  in  the 
policy  of  apprenticing  or  binding  out  orphans  and  poor  children 
under  colonial  legislation  which  was  inherited  from  England,  and 
the  training  of  such  children  in  trades,  handicrafts,  or  agricultural 
occupations.  It  should  be  kept  in  mind,  however,  that  oppor- 
tunities for  education  in  colonial  times  were  larger  than  is 
commonly  known.  In  addition  to  the  charity  schools  and  the 
endowed  free  schools  already  mentioned,  other  means  were  pro- 
vided by  which  the  various  classes  of  the  colonists  could  receive 
educational  training.  Chief  among  these  were  the  tutorial  sys- 
tem, education  in  Europe,  the  community  or  "old  field  schools," 

1See  Thomas,  The  History  of  Printing  in  America  (Vol.  I,  pp.  330-352  ; 
Vol.  II,  pp.  163-174),  and  Weeks,  The  Press  of  North  Carolina  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century. 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE      41 

and  (for  the  less  prosperous  part  of  society  especially)  the  poor 
laws  and  the  apprenticeship  system,  which  is  treated  in  another 
chapter. 

(  Private  tutors  in  the  homes  of  the  planters  furnished  a  highly 
satisfactory  and  a  more  or  less  effective  means  of  supplying  edu- 
cational facilities  for  the  more  prosperous  of  the  colonists  in  Vir- 
ginia and  South  Carolina  and,  to  some  extent,  in  North  Carolina 
and  Georgia.  This  custom  was  directly  inherited  from  England, 
where  it  had  developed  before  the  colonization  of  America.  It  was 
especially  suited  to  the  plantation  system  of  the  South.  The 
wealthy  planters  employed  tutors  for  their  children  from  among 
the  candidates  for  orders  in  the  Church,  who  were  often  educated 
and  cultured.  Frequently,  in  Virginia  at  least,  the  tutors  came 
from  the  indentured  servant  class,  which  included  many  cultivated 
Scotchmen  who  had  thus  sought  to  escape  the  unwholesome  con- 
ditions at  home.  Education  in  England  or  on  the  Continent  was 
likewise  a  popular  educational  practice  among  the  wealthy  col- 
onists in  spite  of  its  inconvenience  and  obstacles.  This  was  a 
practice  among  Virginians  even  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  later  it  was  more  or  less  extensive  in  the  other  Southern 
colonies  also. 

(  Previous  to  1775  there  were  numerous  ministers  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  South  Carolina,  many  of  whom  engaged  as  tutors 
in  addition  to  their  clerical  duties.  From  1733  to  1774  more  than 
four  hundred  advertisements  relating  to  schools  and  schoolmasters 
appeared  in  the  South  Carolina  Gazette,  which  was  published  in 
Charleston ;  and  it  appears  that  during  these  years  several  hundred 
persons,  in  addition  to  the  ministers,  were  engaged  in  the  colony 
as  tutors,  schoolmasters,  and  schoolmistresses.)  Similar  advertise- 
ments appeared  in  newspapers  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  and 
to  a  less  extent  in  Georgia  during  the  colonial  period. 

During  these  years  and  even  later  many  children  were  edu- 
cated in  community  schools,  or  what  later  came  to  be  called  "old 
field  schools."  These  were  set  up  at  convenient  points  by  the 
people  of  the  various  neighborhoods  as  private  or  community 


42  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

enterprises.  Now  and  then  a  community  or  old  field  school  was 
probably  conducted  at  the  teacher's  residence,  but  most  frequently 
they  were  found  in  some  neglected  or  abandoned  old  field,  from 
which  they  acquired  their  name.  In  many  cases,  no  doubt,  some 
of  these  schools  grew  into  rather  pretentious  institutions  and  were 
often  called  academies.1  The  course  of  study  usually  consisted 
of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  though  occasionally  advanced 
subjects  were  taught.  Many  of  the  early  teachers  were  the  local 
clergymen  or  lay  readers  of  the  Church,  who  thus  sought  to 
supplement  their  salaries  by  the  tuition  fees  which  were  charged 
for  instruction.  The  earlier  teachers  were  generally  required  to 
hold  licenses,  either  from  the  Bishop  of  London  or  by  authority 
of  the  governor  of  the  colony,  and  the  more  or  less  strict  ad- 
herence to  this  rule  doubtless  somewhat  decreased  educational 
opportunities  for  the  earlier  dissenters. 

But  educational  facilities  were  not  so  extensive  in  the  South  as 
in  the  North,  and  the  reasons  are  not  difficult  to  find.  In  the 
North  the  climate  was  rigorous  and  the  winters  very  severe,  the 
Indians  were  hostile,  and  the  colonists  were  naturally  forced  into 
compact  communities,  or  towns,  which  were  organized  almost 
simultaneously  with  the  early  settlements.  The  people  were  com- 
pelled to  unite  and  to  cooperate  for  purposes  of  common  defense 
and  community  welfare.  Moreover,  the  Northern  colonies  enjoyed 
a  political  and  religious  freedom  which  the  Southern  colonies  were 
denied  by  the  proprietary  or  royal  authorities.  And  in  the  South 
the  climate  was  mild,  the  soil  was  fertile,  the  Indians  were  com- 
paratively friendly,  and  there  was  no  necessity  for  the  organization 
of  compact  groups  or  communities.  The  colonists,  therefore,  nat- 
urally tended  toward  scattered  settlements,  and  for  the  most 
part  individual  families  took  up  large  plantations  which  to 
a  very  great  extent  soon  became  independent  social  units.  The 
principle  of  reciprocal  obligations  and  of  community  coopera- 
tion through  exchange  of  needs  and  services  did  not  promptly 
establish  itself. 

Chapter  IV. 


43 

This  fact  helps  measurably  to  explain  the  South 's  apparently 
slow  response  to  the  advance  educational  movement  which  had 
an  earlier  and  fuller  influence  in  other  sections  of  the  country. 
The  South  has  always  been  rural  and  is  yet  essentially  an  agri- 
cultural region.  It  still  has  comparatively  few  large  cities.  And 
it  has  been  in  such  centers  that  the  principle  of  cooperation  has 
always  been  most  intelligently  applied  in  the  solution  of  common 
questions  and  in  the  promotion  of  common  interests.  In  such  com- 
pact communities  the  people  early  learned  to  cooperate  in  a  man- 
ner not  yet  fully  understood  by  the  rural  and  sparsely  settled 
sections,  of  which  the  South  has  always  been  so  largely  composed. 
For  this  reason  rural  education  has  been  and  is  yet  the  most  insist- 
ent and  immediately  urgent  task  before  the  people  of  that  region. 

Quite  a  few  of  the  teachers  in  the  early  schools  of  the  South 
were  earnest  men  of  creditable  training,  though  most  of  them  were 
doubtless  indifferently  prepared  for  their  work.  In  the  main  they 
were  itinerant  and  migratory.  Those  who  taught  in  the  schools  of 
the  Established  Church  were  licensed  by  some  governing  authority, 
usually  the  Bishop  of  London  or  the  colonial  governors.  The  pri- 
vate teachers  knew  nothing  of  a  license  or  a  certificate  to  teach. 
The  schoolhouses  were  primitive  and  often  built  of  logs.  They 
were  furnished  with  crude  benches  and  had  no  equipment  such  as 
the  modern  school  has.  Methods  of  teaching  were  poor  and  waste- 
ful, and  group  instruction  was  practically  unknown.  Discipline 
was  harsh,  and  the  teacher  was  considered  a  hard  and  severe  task- 
master. Hearing  lessons  and  keeping  order  consumed  all  his  time. 
There  was  nothing  attractive  about  the  colonial  school  in  the  South. 

The  curriculum  was  meager,  and  textbooks  were  few.  The 
books  were  printed  in  England  and  were  mainly  religious  and 
moral  in  purpose ;  few  secular  textbooks  were  in  use  in  the  col- 
onies before  the  beginning  of  the  national  period.  Hornbooks, 
primers,  the  Psalter,  the  Bible,  and  the  Catechism  were  the  texts 
commonly  found  in  the  charity  schools  and  the  Church  schools. 
These  were  used  primarily  as  reading  books  and  as  means  of  giv- 
ing religious  instruction.  The  celebrated  "New  England  Primer," 


44  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

which  was  so  widely  used  in  other  sections,  found  a  place  in  the 
South  also  and  maintained  it  for  a  number  of  years.  In  addition 
to  reading,  the  subjects  of  writing  and  elementary  arithmetic  and 
spelling  were  taught  to  some  extent. 

The  educational  theories  and  practices  in  the  Southern  colonies 
are  to  be  largely  explained,  therefore,  just  as  our  present-day 
theories  and  practices,  by  the  dominating  social,  political,  and 
economic  conditions  of  the  period.  For  these  are  primarily  the 
factors  which  promote  or  retard  the  growth  of  educational  effort. 
What,  then,  were  the  conditions  which  delayed  the  acceptance  of 
the  theory  that  education  is  a  normal  function  of  the  govern- 
ment ?  Why  was  there  failure  to  unite  early  on  a  plan  for  organ- 
izing, supporting,  and  directing  systems  of  schools  in  which  all 
children  could  be  educated  together  successfully  and  without 
prejudice?  What  problems  of  those  early  times  have  persisted 
until  the  present  ? 

The  answers  to  these  questions  will  be  sought  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters.  For  the  present,  however,  the  student  should  re- 
member that  there  was  a  domination  of  religious  and  of  aristocratic 
conceptions  of  education  which  quite  naturally  gave  the  color  of 
charity  to  any  educational  effort  of  the  government.  This  element 
of  charity  was  destined  to  become  a  stubborn  obstacle  to  future 
public  educational  development.  In  theory  the  ideals  of  political 
democracy  began  to  appear  early  and  were  strongly  revealing 
themselves  by  the  beginning  of  the  national  period,  but  the 
aristocratic  conceptions  and  practices  in  education,  so  strong  and 
wide  in  colonial  times,  continued  to  prevail  until  very  recently  as 
inheritances  from  the  past. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  What   conditions   were  most   influential  in   determining  educa- 
tional practices  in  the  South  before  the  Revolutionary  War  ? 

2.  What  were  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  healthy  development  of 
public  education  in  the  Southern  colonies  ? 

3.  Study  the  attitude  of  England  toward  colonial  education. 


COLONIAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE  45 

4.  Compare  educational  theory  and  practice  in  the  South  and  in 
the  other  colonies  and  explain  the  differences  that  appear. 

5.  Compare  education  in  colonial  times  and  now  in  regard  to  aim, 
curriculum,  methods  of  teaching,  textbooks,  school  equipment,  prep- 
aration of  teachers,  and  the  licensing  or  certification  of  teachers. 

6.  Show  how  the  Established  Church  aided  education  in  the  South 
in  the  colonial  period.    In  what  way   did  it  serve  as  a   retarding 
influence  ? 

7.  Explain  the  domination  of  the  aristocratic  conception  of  edu- 
cation which  prevailed  in  the  South. 

8.  Explain  the  fact  that  the  colonial  assemblies  or  legislatures  gave 
only  slight  attention  to  education. 

9.  Why  were  charity  schools,  or  schools  in  which  poor  children 
were  taught,  a  popular  form  of  educational  effort  in  the  South? 

10.  Show  how  the  social  system  of  the  South  tended  to  delay  the 
growth  of  community  cooperation  in  schools. 

11.  Discuss  the  various  evidences  of  culture  in  the  South  during 
the  colonial  period. 

12.  Make  a  study  of   (a)   private  libraries,    (&)   public  libraries, 
(c)  newspapers,  (cf)  booksellers,  in  the  South  before  1775. 

13.  Make  a  study  of  peculiar  school  practices  in  the   Southern 
colonies  before  the  Revolutionary  War. 

14.  Note  any  problems  or  practices  in  present-day  school  work 
which  have  their  origin  in  colonial  conditions. 

15.  Why  is  rural  education  the  most  important  single  educational 
problem  facing  the  South  at  this  time? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BARNARD,  The  American  Journal  of  Education,  30  vols.  Hartford,  1855- 
1881.  BROWN,  The  Making  of  our  Middle  Schools.  New  York,  1903.  BRUCE, 
Economic  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  2  vols.  New 
York,  1907.  BRUCE,  Institutional  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth 
Century,  2  vols.  New  York,  1910.  CLEWS,  Educational  Legislation  and 
Administration  of  the  Colonial  Governments.  New  York,  1899.  COBB,  The 
Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America.  New  York,  1902.  COOPER,  The  Stat- 
utes at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  5  vols.  Columbia,  1836-1838.  CTJMMINGS, 
The  Early  Schools  of  Methodism.  New  York,  1886.  DALCHO,  An  Historical 
Account  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  South  Carolina.  Charleston, 


46  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

1820.  DAVIS,  "A  Sketch  of  Education  in  South  Carolina,"  in  South  Caro- 
lina :  Resources  and  Population,  Institutions  and  Industries.  Charleston, 
1883.  GRIMKE,  The  Public  Laws  of  South  Carolina.  Philadelphia,  1790. 
HEATWOLE,  A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  HENING, 
Statutes  of  Virginia,  13  vols.  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Richmond, 
1810-1823.  HEWATT,  An  Historical  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of 
the  Colonies  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  2  vols.  London,  1774. 
HUMPHREYS,  An  Historical  Account  of  the  Incorporated  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  London,  1733.  KEMP,  The 
Support  of  Schools  in  Colonial  New  York  by  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  New  York,  1912.  KNIGHT,  Public 
School  Education  in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.  KNIGHT,  The  Academy 
Movement  in  the  South.  Chapel  Hill,  1920.  LEACH,  English  Schools  at  the 
Reformation.  London,  1896.  McCRADY,  Education  in  South  Carolina. 
Charleston,  1883.  McCRADY,  History  of  South  Carolina  under  the  Pro- 
prietary Government,  1670-1719.  New  York,  1897.  McCRADY,  South  Carolina 
under  the  Royal  Government,  1719-1776.  New  York,  1899.  MADDOX,  The 
Free  School  Idea  in  Virginia  before  the  Civil  War.  New  York,  1918.  MONT- 
MORENCY,  Progress  of  Education  in  England.  London,  1904.  MONTMORENCY, 
State  Intervention  in  English  Education.  Cambridge,  1902.  NICHOLLS, 
A  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law,  3  vols.  New  York  and  London,  1898- 
1899.  RAMSAY,  History  of  South  Carolina,  2  vols.  Charleston,  1809.  SCUD- 
DER,  Public  Libraries  a  Hundred  Years  Ago  (in  a  special  report  on  libraries 
in  the  United  States,  published  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education). 
Washington,  1876.  THOMAS,  History  of  Fruiting  in  America,  2  vols.  Albany, 
1874.  TROTT,  The  Laws  of  the  Province  of  South  Carolina.  Charleston, 
1736.  WATSON,  English  Grammar  Schools  to  1660.  Cambridge,  1908.  WEEKS, 
The  Press  of  North  Carolina  in  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Brooklyn,  1891, 


CHAPTER  III 

PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS:    THE 
APPRENTICESHIP  SYSTEM 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  Although  public  education  of  every  kind 
is  now  recognized  as  the  obligation  of  the  State,  the  principle  of 
universal  education  has  only  slowly  gained  practical  application.  The 
difference  between  this  principle  and  the  application  of  it  is  illustrated 
by  the  early  apprenticeship  laws  and  practices. 

2.  The  apprenticeship  system  sought  to  provide  a  certain  training 
for  poor  and  dependent  children.    It  was  inherited  from  England  and 
became  general  in  the  South  during  the  colonial  period  and  even  later. 

3.  The  principal   features   of  the   English  law  and   practice  were 
included  in  colonial  legislation  in  the  South. 

4.  The  early  apprenticeship  laws  in  Virginia  were  based  directly 
on  the  well-known  English  law  of  1601.   Later,  legislation  on  the  sub- 
ject was  elaborated  and  improved  in  Virginia,  and  by  the  Revolution 
the   duties   were    transferred    from   the    Church   to   the   State.   The 
principal  features  of  the  colonial  legislation  were  retained  throughout 
the  nineteenth  century  and  to  recent  times. 

5.  Legislation  and  practices  in  Virginia  were  copied  in  the  colony 
of  North  Carolina,  the  educational  features  being  practically  the  same 
and  remaining  substantially  unchanged  until  the  present. 

6.  Similar  legislation  was  enacted  in  South  Carolina,  in  Georgia,  in 
Tennessee,  in  Louisiana,  in  Mississippi,  in  Alabama,  in  Arkansas,  in 
Florida,  and  in  Texas,  and,  with  occasional  slight  revisions,  have  re- 
mained practically  the  same  as  originally  formed. 

7.  The  principal  features  of  the  system  as  found  in  the  South  and 
the  agencies  for  its  administration  had  educational  significance. 

8.  The  purposes  of  the  system,  its  lessons  for  present-day  problems 
of  delinquency  and  dependency,  and  the  relation  to  modern  public- 
welfare  work  have  value  for  students  and  teachers  today. 

9.  The  educational  significance  of  the  problem  of  neglected  children 
may  be  seen  in  the  duties  of  the  school  and  the  teacher  in  advancing 
the  principle  of  educational  opportunity  for  all. 

47 


48  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Public  education  of  every  kind,  whether  elementary,  secondary, 
higher,  vocational,  recreational,  or  corrective  in  character,  is  now 
well-nigh  universally  accepted  as  the  obligation  of  the  State.  That 
it  is  the  function  of  the  State  to  provide  opportunities  for  the 
adequate  and  safe  education  and  training  of  all  her  citizens  for 
useful,  successful,  and  self-respecting  activities  is  likewise  ac- 
cepted. For  education  is  now  regarded  as  the  principal  means  of 
promoting  public  well-being,  and  these  two  principles  are  there- 
fore fundamental  to  the  welfare  of  democratic  society;  but 
although  somewhat  early  accepted  in  theory,  it  is  surprising  to 
find  that  their  practical  application  has  always  been  slow  and 
that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  extension  to  new  conditions 
and  new  problems  are  even  now  numerous  and  stubborn,  just  as 
in  earlier  times. 

This  wide  difference  between  a  principle  of  social  growth  and 
the  practical  application  of  it  in  community  cooperation  finds 
a  somewhat  striking  illustration  in  the  early  effort  of  the  gov- 
erning bodies  to  control  and  care  for  the  poor  and  dependent 
children  in  the  Southern  colonies.    That  effort  found  expression 
in  the  laws  dealing  with  apprenticeship  and  in  the  practices 
prevailing  under  them.    Such  legislation  was  early  enacted  in 
response  to  the  needs  and  desires  of  the  communities  or  colonies 
and  under  the  influence  of  traditional  or  inherited  ideals  of  the 
colonists.   Theoretically,  or  in  principle,  the  laws  and  practices 
were  humanitarian,  religious  or  philanthropic,  moral  or  educa- 
Jtional,  economic,  industrial,  or  vocational  in  purpose.    Perhaps  in 
(  actual  practice  the  economic  aspect  of  the  apprenticeship  system 
was  strongest  in  its  influence.    For  while  it  appears  that  the 
\  colonies  were  eager  to  afford  some  educational  opportunity  for  the 
\  poor  and  dependent  children,  a  study  of  the  actual  practices 
\built  up  on  the  theories  and  laws  of  apprenticeship  shows  that 
those  in  authority  were  perhaps  more  nearly  interested  in  the 
industrial  or  economic  features  of  the  system  than  in  the  educa- 
tional advantages  which  it  showed  promise  of  offering.   On  the 
other  hand,  however,  the  apprenticeship  system  served  to  aid  a 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  49 

large  number  of  dependent  children  in  colonial  times  and  to 
stimulate  a  wholesome  attitude  toward  those  who  otherwise 
lacked  opportunities  for  being  brought  up  properly.  Moreover, 
in  that  early  attitude  toward  the  poor  and  dependent  is  to  be 
found  a  basis  for  the  full  extension  of  the  principle  of  universal 
education,  now  viewed  as  so  fundamental  in  American  life.  For 
although  it  is  a  long  way  from  the  early  apprenticeship  laws 
to  present-day  legislation  for  delinquent  and  neglected  children, 
there  appear  to  be  direct  relations  between  the  former  and 
the  latter  means  for  the  promotion  of  the  common  good.  The 
purpose  of  this  chapter,  therefore,  is  to  point  out  the  essential 
features  of  the  old  apprenticeship  system  and  to  note  its  educa- 
tional significance  for  those  present-day  laws  and  practices  which 
look  to  intelligent  public  assistance,  through  rational,  properly 
organized,  and  directed  plans,  for  promoting  the  general  welfare  of 
the  State. 

On  account  of  the  peculiar  social,  political,  and  economic  con- 
ditions mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  principal  means 
of  providing. educational  facilities  in  the  South  during  the  colonial 
period  were  not  to  be  public  but  private  in  character.  Few  if 
any  organized  public  schools,  as  the  term  is  known  today,  were 
in  existence  there  at  that  time,  and  few  of  those  children  who 
received  even  the  most  rudimentary  education  received  it  in 
organized  educational  institutions.  There  were  doubtless  many 
schools,  however,  of  one  kind  or  another,  of  which  there  is  no 
record  and  whose  existence  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove.  And 
there  were  other  educational  agencies  than  schools  for  supplying 
instruction.  One  of  these  was  family  instruction,  or  education 
in  the  home,  and  was  found  in  those  families  that  felt  the  need 
and  the  responsibility  for  training  their  own  children.  But  this 
means  of  teaching  naturally  varied  in  quality  and  quantity. 
Another  agency  was  that  of  the  apprenticeship  practices,  which 
prevailed  widely  and  for  many  years,  for  the  purpose  of  providing 
a  training  for  orphans,  poor  children,  and  children  born  out  of 
wedlock.  The  adoption  of  this  system  showed  that  the  colonists 


50  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

felt  the  necessity  of  making  provision  for  the  education  of  such 
children  and  for  their  training  in  some  trade,  handicraft,  or  in 
agricultural  occupations. 

The  apprenticeship  system  of  training  was  common  through- 
out the  South  and  developed  into  a  modified  form  of  compulsory 
education  during  the  early  period.  It  was  transplanted  directly 
from  England,  where  it  had  served  useful  purposes.  As  noted  in 
Chapter  I,  the  problem  of  the  unemployed  and  of  the  poor  in 
England  in  the  sixteenth  century  came  to  be  dealt  with  by  a  series 
of  laws  which  undertook  to  provide  a  stricter  punishment  for 
sturdy  beggars  and  to  inaugurate  a  compulsory  assessment  to  aid 
the  deserving  poor.  It  was  also  noted  that  legislation  enacted 
near  the  close  of  that  century  made  explicit  and  practicable  the 
directions  for  controlling  this  condition  by  a  systematic  collection 
and  distribution  of  funds  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  by  setting 
the  able-bodied  vagrants  to  work.  The  principal  features  of  that 
legislation  were  incorporated  in  the  famous  law  of  1601,  which 
became  the  real  statutory  foundation  of  the  poor  law  and  the 
basis  of  a  national  system  of  poor  relief.  Its  influence  on  the 
practices  of  the  English  colonists  was  very  significant.  Under 
the  authority  of  this  act  definite  compulsory  contributions  were 
assessed  on  ratable  values  for  funds  to  relieve  the  poor,  and 
"overseers  of  the  poor"  were  appointed  to  superintend  the 
distribution  of  relief,  to  apprentice  orphans  and  the  children  of 
the  poor,  and  to  see  that  trades  were  properly  taught  to  them. 
The  law  of  1601  and  similar  acts  were  not  primarily  educational 
in  intent,  but  they  became  the  basis  of  the  only  vocational 
training  given  a  large  number  of  children.  The  early  colonists 
knew  the  need  and  were  trained  in  the  interpretation  anS  admin- 
istration of  such  legislation,  and  the  custom  was  quite  naturally 
transplanted  to  America. 

This  system  of  training  gained  a  unique  and  important  place 
in  education  in  the  South.  But  in  order  to  understand  the  popular 
attitude  toward  the  class  of  people  whom  it  was  intended  to  pro- 
vide for  and  to  protect,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  that  education 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS 


is  a  term  of  varying  meaning.  The  term  now  generally  means  an 
expansion  of  the  mental  faculties  through  a  specific  organized 
course  of  a  more  or  less  literary  nature.  For  the  more  prosperous 
part  of  society  a  "  certain  tincture  of  letters"  has  always  been 
regarded  as  essential,  but  a  broad  formal  literary  training  has 
not  always  been  held  as  entirely  necessary  for  the  humbler  classes. 
A  popular  and  traditional  view  has  been  that  an  extensive  lit- 
erary education  was  not  indispensable  to  the  poor  youth  of  the 

Community.     Moreover,    the   parpntff   pr   gnarHian^   nf   g^rh 


have  of  terT  appeared  more  concerned  aboutja  practical  training 
of  their  rhildrpn  nr  wards  in  thn^pjv-rijpgjjfms  ?nri  crafts  through 

whichthey  were  laleFlo  maintain  themselves  than  they  were 
about  mere  "borok^  learning."  In  the  so-called__  apprenticeship 
system,  therefore,  a  very  important  form  of  pHnratinnal  effort 
appeared  in  the~South  during  the  colonial  period. 

Under  tjie"~tamous  English  law  of  1601,  on  which  colonial 
practices  were  generally  based,  the  churchwardens  of  every  parish 
and  a  varying  number  of  "substantial  householders"  thereof  were 
nominated  annually  by  the  local  justices  of  the  peace  as  "overseers 
of  the  poor."  These  officers  were  required  to  give  attention  to 
setting  to  work  all  the  poor  children  whose  parents  were  unable 
to  maintain  them,  and  to  raise  by  taxation  materials  and  "compe- 
tent sums  of  money"  for  apprenticing  such  children.  The  over- 
seers were  to  meet  monthly  on  Sunday  afternoon  "after  divine 
service  "  to  give  attention  to  their  duties,  when  they  were  to  render 
account  of  all  moneys  and  materials  received  by  them  and  of 
"all  things  concerning  their  said  office."  Penalties  were  prescribed 
for  every  case  of  negligence  or  default  on  the  part  of  the  overseers, 
and  imprisonment  was  the  punishment  for  those  who  refused  to 
account.  Whenever  the  justices  found  the  inhabitants  of  any 
parish  unable  to  relieve  their  poor  the  officers  were  required  to 
tax  any  other  parishes  in  "  the  hundred  where  the  said  parish  is." 
In  case  the  hundred  was  regarded  as  unable  to  bear  the  tax, 
the  justices  at  their  quarter  sessions  were  to  rate  and  assess 
other  parishes  in  the  county  for  the  purposes  of  the  law.  Persons 


52 

refusing  to  pay  their  assessments  for  poor  relief  saw  their  property 
sold  for  the  rate  required  by  the  law. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  duties  of  the  churchwardens  and 
overseers  of  the  poor  were  to  bind  as  apprentices  the  children 
affected  by  this  act,  the  males  until  they  were  twenty-four  years 
of  age  and  the  females  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  the  time  of 
their  marriage.  But  they  were  also  required  to  have  houses  built 
on  any  waste  or  common  in  the  parish,  at  the  general  charge  of 
the  parish,  as  habitations  for  the  poor.  Powers  similar  to  those 
given  to  justices  of  the  peace  were  also  given  to  officers  of  towns 
and  corporations.  Justices  in  the  county  and  officers  in  the  towns 
who  failed  to  nominate  regularly  the  overseers  of  the  poor  "shall 
lose  and  forfeit  for  every  such  default  five  pounds.  .  .  ." 

One  of  the  first  apprenticeship  laws  was  enacted  in  Virginia  in 
1643.  It  was  based  on  the  English  law  of  1601  and  had  an 
interesting  educational  aspect : 

Whereas  there  hath  been  the  general  suffering  of  the  colony  that 
the  orphans  of  divers  deceased  persons  have  been  very  much  abused 
and  prejudiced  in  their  estates  by  the  negligence  of  overseers  and 
guardians  of  such  orphans ;  Be  it  therefore  enacted  and  confirmed, 
.  .  .  And  all  overseers  and  guardians  of  such  orphans  are  enjoined  by 
the  authority  aforesaid  [county  courts]  to  educate  and  instruct  them 
according  to  their  best  endeavors  in  Christian  religion  and  in  rudi- 
ments of  learning,  and  to  provide  for  them  necessaries  according  to  the 
competence  of  their  estates. 

Further  legislation  was  enacted  in  Virginia  in  1646  and  showed 
that  in  spite  of  a  difference  in  local  conditions  the  legislation 
and  practices  of  the  mother  country  were  transplanted  to  that 
colony : 

Whereas  sundry  laws  and  statutes  by  act  of  Parliament  established, 
have  with  great  wisdom  ordained,  for  the  better  education  of  youth  in 
honest  and  profitable  trades  and  manufactures,  as  also  to  avoid  sloth 
and  idleness  wherewith  such  young  children  are  easily  corrupted,  as 
also  relief  of  such  parents  whose  poverty  extends  not  to  give  them 
breeding,  that  the  justices  of  the  peace  should,  at  their  discretion, 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  53 

bind  out  children  to  tradesmen  or  husbandmen  to  be  brought  up  in 
some  good  and  lawful  calling.  And  whereas  God  Almighty,  among  his 
many  other  blessings,  hath  vouchsafed  increase  of  children  to  this 
colony,  who  now  are  multiplied  to  a  considerable  number,  who  if  in- 
structed in  good  and  lawful  trades,  may  much  improve  the  honor  and 
reputation  of  the  country,  and  no  less  their  own  good  and  their 
parents  comfort :  But  forasmuch  as  for  the  most  part,  the  parents 
either  through  fond  indulgence  or  perverse  obstinacy,  are  most  averse 
and  unwilling  to  part  with  their  children,  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by 
authority  of  this  Grand  Assembly,  according  to  the  aforesaid  laudable 
custom  in  the  Kingdom  of  England,  that  the  commissioners  of  the 
several  counties  respectively  do,  at  their  discretion,  make  choice  of 
two  children  in  each  county  at  the  age  of  eight  or  seven  years  at  the 
least,  either  male  or  female,  which  are  to  be  sent  up  to  James  City 
between  this  and  June  next  to  be  employed  in  the  public  flax  houses 
under  such  master  and  mistress  as  shall  be  there  appointed  in  carding, 
knitting  and  spinning.  And  that  the  said  children  be  furnished  from 
the  said  county  with  six  barrels  of  corn,  two  coverlets,  or  one  rug  and 
one  blanket,  one  bed,  one  wooden  bowl  or  tray,  two  pewter  spoons, 
a  sow  shote  of  six  months  old,  two  laying  hens,  with  convenient 
apparel  both  linen  and  woolen,  with  hose  and  shoes.  And  for  the 
better  provision  of  housing  for  the  same  children,  it  is  enacted  that 
there  be  two  houses  built  by  the  first  of  April  next  of  forty  feet  long 
apiece  with  good  and  substantial  timber,  the  houses  to  be  twenty  foot 
broad  apiece,  eight  foot  high  in  the  pitch  and  a  stack  of  brick  chim- 
neys standing  in  the  midst  of  each  house,  and  that  they  be  lofted 
with  sawn  boards  and  made  with  convenient  partitions.  And  it  is 
further  thought  fit  that  the  commissioners  have  caution  not  to  take 
up  any  children  but  from  such  parents  who  by  reason  of  their  poverty 
are  disabled  to  maintain  and  educate  them.  Be  it  likewise  agreed 
that  the  Governor  hath  agreed  with  the  Assembly  for  the  sum  of 
10,000  Ibs.  of  tobacco  to  be  paid  him  the  next  crop,  to  build  and  finish 
the  said  house  in  manner  and  form  before  expressed. 

Just  how  extensively  or  effectively  this  law  was  executed  the  ac- 
cessible documents  do  not  indicate,  but  it  remained  the  legislation 
dealing  with  the  control  of  the  poor  until  1672.  In  that  year  the 
justices  were  ordered  to  put  the  laws  of  England  against  vagrant 
and  idle  persons  in  strict  execution ;  and  the  county  courts  were 


54  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

empowered  and  authorized  to  apprentice  to  tradesmen  all  children 
whose  parents  were  unable  to  bring  them  up  properly,  the  males 
until  they  were  twenty-one  years  old  and  the  females  until  they 
were  eighteen.  The  churchwardens  were  strictly  enjoined  to  render 
annually  to  the  orphans'  court  an  account  of  all  children  in  their 
parishes  to  whom  the  law  applied. 

The  law  dealing  with  poor  children  and  providing  for  their 
bringing  up  was  gradually  elaborated  in  the  colony  of  Virginia. 
By  an  act  of  1705  it  was  provided  that  when  the  estate  of  any 
orphan  was  so  small  that  no  person  would  maintain  him  for 
the  profits  thereof,  such  orphan  was  to  be  apprenticed  until 
he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  for  the  purpose  of  learning  a 
trade.  His  master  was  "  obliged  to  teach  him  to  read  and  write ; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  this  servitude,  to  pay  and  allow  him  in 
like  manner  as  is  appointed  for  servants,  by  indenture  or  custom." 
Here  the  relation  between  the  apprenticeship  system  and  formal 
education  begins  to  reveal  itself.  To  teach  an  orphan  or  poor  child 
a  trade  or  art  was  no  longer  considered  the  only  duty  the  master 
legally  owed  his  apprentice.  Mere  maintenance  by  the  master  was 
not  sufficient;  provision  for  formal  literary  instruction,  however 
meager,  was  required,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  language  of  the 
law,  "obliged  to  teach  him  to  read  and  write."  A  growing  con- 
sciousness on  the  subject  of  education  and  training  for  the  less 
fortunate  children  was  appearing. 

In  1727  it  became  lawful  for  the  churchwardens,  upon  certifi- 
cate from  the  court,  to  bind  as  apprentices  the  children  of  parents 
who  were  incapable  of  taking  due  care  of  their  education  and 
training  in  Christian  principles.  The  children  were  to  be  ap- 
prenticed for  such  a  term  and  under  such  covenants  as  were 
usual  and  customary  or  as  the  law  directed  in  the  case  of  orphan 
children.  The  paternalistic  character  of  apprenticeship  legislation, 
which  formerly  seems  to  have  applied  especially  to  poor  orphans, 
now  appeared  in  the  laws  dealing  with  the  children  of  poor  parents. 
The  tendency  was  to  regard  such  children  as  belonging  to  the 
governing  authority  and  as  being  entitled,  by  reason  of  such 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  55 

relationship,  to  the  training  and  instruction  necessary  for  main- 
taining themselves  on  reaching  maturity.  Supplementary  legisla- 
tion later  required  that  all  apprentices  should  faithfully  serve 
their  term  of  apprenticeship,  because  "the  taking  of  apprentices, 
and  bringing  them  up,  and  instructing  them  to  be  skilful  in  the 
trades,  arts,  mysteries,  or  occupations,  to  which  they  are  bound, 
will  be  very  beneficial  to  such  apprentices,  and  increase  the  num- 
ber of  artificers  in  the  colony."  The  economic  importance  of  the 
apprenticeship  system  was,  therefore,  evident  to  the  colonists. 

In  1748  another  act  was  passed  on  the  subject  which  had  con- 
siderable educational  significance.  Whenever  the  profits  of  an 
orphan's  estate  were  insufficient  to  maintain  him  he  was  to  be 
bound  apprentice  to  some  tradesman,  merchant,  mariner,  or  other 
person  approved  by  the  court  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 
Under  like  conditions  a  girl  was  to  be  apprenticed  to  some  suitable 
trade  or  employment  until  the  age  of  eighteen.  The  master  or 
mistress  of  such  apprentice  was  to  provide  him  or  her  "diet, 
clothes,  lodgings,  and  accommodations  fit  and  necessary,"  and 
was  to  teach  or  cause  him  or  her  to  be  taught  "  to  read  and  write  " ; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  the  apprenticeship  to  pay  such  ap- 
prentice "the  like  allowance  as  is  by  law  appointed  for  servants 
by  indenture  or  custom." 

The  laws  dealing  with  the  poor  were  gradually  elaborated  and 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  churchwardens  in  making 
provisions  for  the  poor  were  increased.  By  legislation  of  1755 
these  officers  were  required  to  keep  a  register  of  all  the  poor  in 
their  parishes  and  to  send  certain  poor  people  to  the  "poorhouses," 
which  the  vestries  were  empowered  to  build  and  to  furnish  with 
"cotton,  hemp  and  flax  or  other  necessary  materials,  implements 
or  things,  for  setting  the  poor  to  work."  Moreover,  an  allowance 
was  to  be  levied  in  the  regular  parish  levies  for  the  education  of 
the  poor  children  placed  in  such  houses  until  they  were  bound 
out  according  to  law.  This  is  another  example  of  the  direct 
transplanting  to  the  colony  of  an  English  custom,  and  the  similar- 
ity between  this  law  and  the  law  of  1601,  described  above,  is  at 


56  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

once  noticeable.  In  1769  an  act  was  passed  by  which  children 
born  out  of  wedlock  were  to  be  bound  apprentices  by  the  church- 
wardens, the  boys  until  they  were  twenty-one  and  the  girls  until 
they  reached  the  age  of  eighteen.  And  the  master  or  mistress  was 
required  to  teach  such  children,  or  cause  them  to  be  taught,  to 
read  and  write. 

By  the  Revolution  the  poor  laws  and  the  apprenticeship  legisla- 
tion had  been  built  up  sufficiently  to  take  care  of  all  poor  orphans, 
children  of  poor  parents,  and  illegitimate  children.  Under  the 
general  law  such  children  were  to  be  bound  by  authorized  local 
bodies  to  a  master  or  mistress,  to  serve  a  term  of  years,  during 
which  time  they  were  to  be  maintained,  trained  in  an  art,  industry, 
or  trade,  and  taught  to  read  and  write.  When  the  term  of  service 
ended  the  apprentice  usually  found  a  career  open  to  him  for  which 
he  had  been  trained.  However  great  the  obvious  weaknesses  of 
such  a  system,  its  value  for  a  large  part  of  the  colonial  population 
cannot  be  questioned. 

By  1778  the  duties  and  powers  of  dealing  with  the  poor  were 
beginning  to  be  transferred  from  the  churchwardens,  vestries,  or 
other  church  officers  to  state  or  county  authorities.  By  this  time 
the  theory  was  gaining  that  caring  for  and  educating  and  training 
poor  children  were  functions  of  the  State.  Later  the  vestries  and 
other  parish  bodies  with  powers  of  poor  relief  were  dissolved  in 
several  counties  of  Virginia,  and  such  parochial  duties  were  trans- 
ferred to  five  freeholders  who  were  to  be  elected  overseers  of  the 
poor  to  serve  for  three  years.  These  civil  officers  were  to  be  a 
corporate  body  and  succeed  to  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  church 
officers  who  had  been  charged  with  poor  relief  and  the  direction 
of  the  apprenticeship  system.  A  few  years  later  this  legislation 
was  extended  to  other  counties,  and  by  1785  all  powers  and 
authority  previously  given  the  churchwardens  for  apprenticing 
poor  and  dependent  children  were  taken  over  by  the  overseers  of 
the  poor,  who  were  required  to  make  monthly  reports  to  the 
county  courts. 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  57 

A  provision  of  patticular  interest  appeared  in  an  act  of  1786: 

Be  it  furthe*''  enacted,  that  the  overseers  of  the  poor  in  each  dis- 
trict, shall  monthly  make  returns  to  the  court  of  their  county,  of  the 
orphans  in  their  district,  and  of  such  children  within  the  same,  whose 
parents  they  shall  judge  incapable  of  supporting  and  bringing  them  up 
in  honest  courses.  And  the  said  court  is  hereby  authorized  to  direct  the 
said  overseers,  or  either  of  them,  to  bind  out  such  poor  orphans  and 
children  apprentices  to  such  person  or  persons  as  the  court  shall  ap- 
prove of,  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  if  a  boy,  or  eighteen  years, 
if  a  girl.  The  indentures  of  such  apprentices  shall  contain  proper 
covenants  to  oblige  the  person  to  whom  they  shall  be  bound,  to  teach 
them  some  art,  trade,  or  business,  to  be  particularized  in  the  inden- 
tures, as  also  reading  and  writing,  and,  if  a  boy,  common  arithmetic, 
including  the  rule  of  three,  and  to  pay  to  him  or  her,  as  the  case  may 
be,  three  pounds  and  ten  shillings  at  the  expiration  of  the  time  of 
service. 

Near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  legislation  was 
revised  and  summarized  and  the  apprenticeship  system  slightly 
improved.  The  essential  features  were  retained ;  and  throughout 
the  nineteenth  century  these  persisted  in  Virginia,  as  in  practically 
all  the  States.  By  legislation  of  1805  the  indentures,  as  before, 
contained  covenants  to  teach,  "except  in  the  case  of  black  and 
mulatto  orphans."  The  law  on  the  subject  in  1849  made  it  in- 
cumbent on  the  master  to  teach  or  have  his  apprentice  taught  a 
trade  or  occupation,  whether  it  was  expressly  provided  in  the 
indenture  or  not,  "and  unless  the  apprentice  be  a  free  negro" 
the  master  was  "  bound  to  teach  him  reading,  writing  and  common 
arithmetic,  including  the  rule  of  three."  This  provision  continued 
until  the  Civil  War.  Authority  was  also  given  for  placing  orphans 
and  poor  children  in  any  incorporated  association,  asylum,  or 
school  instituted  for  the  support  and  education  of  destitute  chil- 
dren, and  before  the  close  of  the  century  a  definite  form  of 
agreement  between  the  master  and  the  court  was  specified  by  leg- 
islative enactment.  With  these  exceptions  legislation  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  poor  and  apprentices  in  Virginia  has  continued,  in  its 


58  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

essentials,  practically  unchanged  from  colonial  practices,  though 
the  necessity  for  its  enforcement  has  gradually  decreased  as  other 
agencies  have  developed  for  caring  for  the  dependent  classes. 

The  legislation  and  practices  in  Virginia  were  copied  in  great 
detail  in  other  Southern  colonies  throughout  the  period.  This 
was  especially  true  of  North  Carolina,  which  was  in  close  contact 
with  Virginia.  The  system  was  in  operation  in  North  Carolina, 
however,  many  years  before  apprenticeship  legislation  was  enacted 
in  that  colony.  Records  of  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  show  that  orphans  and  poor  children  were  then  being 
bound  out  and  apprenticed  by  the  precinct  courts,1  though  legis- 
lation in  that  colony  was  not  enacted  on  the  subject  until  1715. 
In  that  year  a  law  was  passed  giving  the  precinct  courts  sole 
authority  to  bind  out  and  apprentice  such  dependent  children. 
The  law  required  that  "all  Orphans  shall  be  Educated  &  provided 
for  according  to  their  Rank  &  degree  out  of  the  Income  or  Interest 
of  their  Estate  &  Stock  if  the  same  will  be  sufficient  Otherwise 
such  Orphans  shall  be  bound  Apprentice  to  some  Handycraft 
Trade  (the  Master  or  Mistress  of  such  Orphan  not  being  of  the 
Profession  called  Quakers)  till  they  shall  come  of  Age  unless  some 
kin  to  such  Orphan  will  undertake  to  maintain  &  Educate  him  or 
them  for  the  interest  or  income  of  his  or  her  Estate  without 
Diminution  of  the  Principal  whether  the  same  be  great  or 
small.  .  .  ." 

By  an  act  of  1755  the  churchwardens  of  every  parish  of  North 
Carolina  were  required  to  furnish  to  the  justices  of  the  orphans' 
court,  at  its  annual  session,  the  names  of  children  without  guard- 
ians. Failure  to  perform  this  duty  was  punishable  by  a  fine  of 
"ten  pounds  proclamation  money  each."  The  court  was  to  ap- 
point guardians  for  all  such  children,  and  these  guardians  were 
to  make  reports  to  the  court  of  their  wards  and  apprentices. 
When  the  court  "shall  know  or  be  informed  that  any  guardian 
or  guardians  by  them  respectfully  appointed,  do  waste  or  convert 
the  money  or  estate  of  any  orphan  to  his  or  her  own  use,  or  do  in 

1  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  iii. 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  59 

any  manner  mismanage  the  same  ...  or  neglects  to  educate  or 
maintain  any  orphan  according  to  his  or  her  degree  and  circum- 
stance," the  court  was  then  empowered  to  establish  other  rules 
and  regulations  for  the  better  management  of  such  estate  and 
"  for  the  better  educating  and  maintaining  such  orphans."  When 
the  profits  of  any  orphan's  estate  "shall  be  more  than  sufficient  to 
maintain  and  educate  him"  the  surplus  was  to  be  invested  on  good 
and  sufficient  security.  But  if  the  estate  "shall  be  of  so  small 
value  that  no  person  will  educate  or  maintain  him  or  her  for  the 
profits  thereof,  such  orphan  shall  by  the  direction  of  the  court  be 
bound  apprentice,  every  male  to  some  tradesman,  merchant, 
mariner,  or  other  person  approved  by  the  court,  until  he  shall 
attain  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  every  female  to  some 
suitable  employment  till  her  age  of  eighteen  years,  and  the  master 
or  mistress  of  every  such  servant  shall  find  and  provide  for  him 
or  her  diet,  clothes,  lodging  and  accommodations  fit  and  neces- 
sary, and  shall  teach,  or  cause  him  or  her  to  be  taught,  to  read 
and  write,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  or  her  apprenticeship  shall 
pay  every  such  servant  the  like  allowance  as  is  by  law  appointed 
for  servants  by  indenture  or  custom,  and  on  refusal  shall  be  com- 
pelled thereto  in  like  manner.  .  .  ." 

Further  legislation  on  the  subject  of  the  maintenance  and  edu- 
cation of  orphans  was  enacted  in  North  Carolina  in  1762  and 
was  justified,  according  to  the  preamble,  by  the  "  experience  that 
the  court  of  each  respective  county,  exercising  the  power  of  regu- 
lating the  education  of  orphans,  and  the  management  of  their 
estates,  have  proved  of  singular  service  to  them."  This  law 
differed  from  previous  legislation  in  one  essential  point.  Formerly 
the  churchwardens  of  every  parish  were  required  to  report  to  the 
court  the  names  of  orphans  and  poor  children  without  guardians 
or  masters.  By  this  act  that  duty  was  transferred  to  the  grand 
jury  of  every  county.  Provision  was  further  made  for  an  orphans' 
court  to  be  held  annually  by  the  justices  of  every  inferior  court  of 
pleas  and  quarter  sessions;  at  this  court  accounts  of  guardians 
were  exhibited  and  complaints  heard. 


60  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  educational  features  of  this  law  have  a  certain  interest. 
The  guardian  of  any  orphan  whose  estate  furnished  the  orphan 
an  economic  competency  was  to  supervise  his  education  and 
maintenance.  When  the  estate  was  of  such  small  value  that  "no 
person  will  educate  and  maintain  him  or  her  for  the  profits 
thereof,"  the  orphan  was  to  be  bound  apprentice  by  the  court  in 
the  manner  prescribed  by  earlier  legislation.  Masters  or  guardians 
refusing  to  observe  the  requirements  of  the  law  or  of  the 
indentures  respecting  education  and  training  in  a  trade  "shall  be 
compelled  thereto."  And  if  on  complaint  made  to  the  court  it 
appeared  that  apprentices  had  been  ill  used  and  not  taught  or 
trained  under  the  terms  of  the  law  and  the  indentures,  they  were 
immediately  removed  and  bound  to  other  suitable  persons. 

With  the  exception  of  certain  vestry  acts,  the  act  of  1762  re- 
mained until  the  national  period  practically  the  only  legislation 
dealing  with  apprentices  and  the  poor  in  North  Carolina.  Under 
this  law,  as  already  noted,  the -duty  of  reporting  to  the  justices 
of  the  local  court  the  names  of  .orphans  and  poor  children  without 
guardians  or  masters  was  transferred  from  the  churchwardens  to 
the  county  grand  jury.  By  the  Vestry  Act  of  1777  similar  author- 
ity was  transferred  from  the  vestrymen  to  the  "overseers  of  the 
poor."  Thus  the  full  power  of  controlling  the  maintenance  and 
education  of  the  poor  was  taken  from  a  parochial  body  and  vested 
in  the  State.  From  such  a  transfer  of  authority  developed  the 
theory  that  caring  for  and  "educating"  the  poor  is  primarily  the 
function  of  the  State,  and  in  this  conception  is  found  the  origin 
of  the  element  of  charity  which  was  early  attached  to  public  edu- 
cational effort  in  the  South. 

Revisions  were  gradually  made  in  the  law  in  North  Carolina, 
but  the  principles  of  poor  relief  and  of  the  apprenticeship  system 
remained  throughout  the  nineteenth  century  practically  as  they 
appeared  in  the  early  legislation.  The  main  features  of  the  law  of 
1762  remained  essentially  unchanged  until  about  1846.  Before 
the  Civil  War,  however,  it  was  not  obligatory  on  the  master  to 
teach  a  colored  apprentice  to  read  and  write,  and  authority  was 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  61 

given  the  court  to  place  children  in  orphan  asylums  or  in  other 
incorporated  institutions  of  a  charitable  character.  By  an  act  of 
1889,  which  is  still  in  force,  the  master  was  required  to  provide 
as  follows  for  his  apprentice: 

Diet,  clothes,  lodging  and  accommodations  fit  and  necessary;  that 
the  apprentice  be  taught  to  read  and  write  and  the  rules  of  arithmetic 
to  the  double  rule  of  three ;  six  dollars  in  cash,  a  new  suit  of  clothes 
and  a  new  Bible  at  the  end  of  the  apprenticeship;  and  such  other 
education  as  may  be  agreed  upon  and  inserted  in  the  indenture  by 
the  clerk. 

Legislation  on  the  subject  was  enacted  in  South  Carolina  in  the 
last  decade  of  the  seventeenth  century.  By  an  act  of  1695  com- 
missioners of  the  poor  were  appointed  with  power  "to  take  out 
of  the  public  money  of  the  province  not  exceeding  ten  pounds  per 
year,  and  of  that  to  give  such  competent  sum  or  sums  of  money 
for  and  towards  the  necessary  relief  of  the  lame,  impotent,  old, 
blind,  and  such  other  persons  being  poor  and  not  able  to  work, 
as  to  them  shall  seem  convenient.  And  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
said  persons  or  any  three  of  them,  with  the  assistance  of  one  or 
more  justices  of  the  peace,  to  employ  any  such  person  in  such 
work  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  fit,  and  also  to  bind  any  poor 
children  to  be  apprentices,  where  they  shall  see  convenient,  till 
every  male  child  shall  come  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  and 
every  female  child  to  the  age  of  nineteen  years  or  the  time  of  her 
marriage.  .  .  ." 

In  1698  an  additional  act  was  passed,  but  it  contained  little 
that  was  new  except  a  provision  for  the  care  of  pauper  seamen 
who  had  been  "brought  in  and  left  here  upon  the  charge  of  the 
public."  At  the  same  time  legislation  was  enacted  to  encourage 
the  importation  of  white  servants.  The  sum  of  thirteen  pounds 
was  promised  for  every  white  servant  between  the  ages  of  sixteen 
and  forty,  Irish  excepted,  and  the  term  of  service  of  such  servants 
was  prescribed. 

Another  act  for  the  better  relief  of  the  poor  of  the  colony  was 
passed  in  1712,  when  the  earlier  legislation  was  repealed.  By  this 


62  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

act  the  vestries  of  the  several  parishes  were  empowered  to  nom- 
inate overseers  of  the  poor  annually,  who,  together  with  the 
churchwardens,  were  to  have  oversight  of  the  poor.  Assessments 
were  to  be  made  on  real  and  personal  property,  and  the  church- 
wardens and  overseers  of  the  poor,  with  the  consent  and  approval 
of  the  vestry,  were  empowered  to  bind  out  and  apprentice  children 
as  before.  '•  By  a  law  of  1 740  masters  were  required  to  teach 
their  apprentices  a  "lawful  business,  art,  trade,  or  mystery  speci- 
fied in  the  indenture,"  and  this  requirement  remained  the  general 
law  on  the  subject.  )As  late  as  1882  the  same  provisions  were  in 
force,  and  they  have  been  retained  substantially  unchanged  until 
the  present.  Legislation  on  the  subject  in  South  Carolina  was 
not  very  extensive,  and  it  is  also  remarkable  that  it  contained  no 
requirements  that  masters  provide  for  their  apprentices  formal 
educational  facilities  demanded  by  similar  legislation  in  other 
States.  This  apparent  defect  of  the  law  in  that  State  was  not 
improbably  due  to  the  extensive  facilities  for  the  education  of 
the  poor,  through  charity  schools  and  other  institutions  of  an 
eleemosynary  character,  with  which  the  State  was  early  provided. 
The  law  of  Georgia  was  not  altogether  unlike  that  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  In  the  main  it  required  the  clerk  of  the 
court  to  bind  out  children  as  follows : 

Where  it  shall  appear  to  the  said  court  that  the  annual  profits  of 
the  estate  of  any  orphan  is  not  sufficient  for  the  education  and  main- 
tenance of  such  orphan,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  such  court  forthwith 
to  bind  out  the  said  orphan  for  the  whole  or  such  part  of  the  time  of 
such  orphan's  minority  as  to  them  shall  seem  best;  and  the  person 
to  whom  such  orphan  shall  be  bound,  shall  undertake  to  clothe  and 
maintain  such  apprentice  to  be  taught  to  read  and  write  the  English 
language,  and  the  usual  rules  of  arithmetic. 

This  law  was  in  force  a  large  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
fully  half  of  the  nineteenth.  Later  the  following  was  enacted  and 
has  remained  the  law  on  the  subject : 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  master  to  teach  the  apprentice  the 
business  of  husbandry,  house  service,  or  some  other  useful  trade  or 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  63 

occupation,  which  shall  be  specified  in  the  instrument  of  apprentice- 
ship; shall  furnish  him  with  protection,  wholesome  food,  suitable 
clothing,  and  necessary  medicine  and  medical  attendance ;  shall  teach 
him  habits  of  industry,  honesty,  and  morality ;  and  shall  cause  him  to 
be  taught  to  read  English ;  and  shall  govern  him  with  humanity,  using 
only  the  same  degree  of  force  to  compel  his  obedience  as  a  father 
may  use  with  his  minor  child. 

The  first  legislation  enacted  in  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Tennessee  was  practically  the  same  as  the  law  of  1762  of  North 
Carolina,  its  parent  State.  This  law  required  the  master  or 
mistress  of  every  orphan  apprenticed  to  find  and  provide  for 
him  or  her  diet,  clothes,  lodging,  and  accommodations  fit  and 
necessary  and  to  teach  or  cause  him  or  her  to  be  taught  "  to  read 
and  write  and  cypher  as  far  as  the  rule  of  three."  A  later  enact- 
ment required  the  master  or  mistress,  at  the  expiration  of  the  ap- 
prenticeship, to  pay  the  apprentice,  in  addition  to  the  usual 
stipulations  of  the  contract,  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars  and  to 
furnish  him  with  one  good  suit  of  clothes. 

The  law  in  Louisiana  required  the  master  to  instruct  the  ap- 
prentice in  his  art,  trade,  or  profession  and  to  teach  him  or  cause 
him  to  be  taught  to  read,  write,  and  cipher.  In  addition  to  this 
requirement  the  following  provisions  appeared  early  and  have 
remained  the  principal  legislation  on  the  subject  of  apprenticing 
poor  children: 

In  every  case  where  any  person  shall  be  bound  in  any  place,  where 
there  shall  be  a  school  established,  either  as  an  apprentice  or  servant, 
who  shall  be  under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  there  shall  be  a 
clause  in  the  indentures  binding  the  master  or  mistress  to  teach  or 
cause  to  be  taught  the  said  apprentice  or  servant  to  read  and  write, 
as  also  to  instruct  him  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  arithmetic. 

As  early  as  February,  1807,  a  law  in  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Mississippi  required  the  overseers  of  the  poor  to  make  returns  to 
the  county  courts  twice  a  year  of  all  poor  orphans  in  their 
districts  and  of  such  other  children  within  the  same  "whose 
parents  they  shall  judge  incapable  of  supporting  them,  and 


64  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

bringing  them  up  in  honest  ways."  Such  children  were  later 
to  be  bound  apprentices ;  and  the  master  or  mistress  of  every 
apprentice  "shall  engage  by  a  covenant,  to  be  entered  in  the 
indenture,  to  provide  the  apprentice  with  a  sufficiency  of  good 
and  wholesome  provisions,  necessary  clothing,  washing  and 
lodging;  to  teach  the  said  apprentice  the  business  or  occupation 
which  he  pursues  for  a  livelihood,  and  also,  to  read,  write  and 
cypher  as  far  as  the  rule  of  three ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  said 
apprenticeship,  to  furnish  the  said  apprentice  with  one  complete 
new  suit  of  clothing,  and  two  shirts;  if  a  female,  one  complete 
new  suit  of  clothes,  and  two  shifts."  By  a  later  enactment  this 
was  changed  to  read,  "to  furnish  the  said  apprentice  with  one 
complete  new  suit  of  clothes  and  two  changes  of  linen." 

Later  still  the  law  required  the  person  to  whom  the  apprentice 
was  bound  to  teach  him  or  her  "some  art,  trade,  or  business,  to 
be  particularized  in  the  indenture,"  and  reading,  writing,  and 
common  arithmetic,  "including  the  rule  of  three;  and  also,  to 
furnish  him  or  her,  at  the  expiration  of  said  apprenticeship,  a 
genteel  suit  of  clothes,  not  less  than  twenty  dollars  in  cost,  and 
ten  dollars  in  money."  A  further  revision  of  the  law  required 
the  master  to  treat  his  apprentice  humanely,  to  teach  him  or  her 
the  occupation  "which  such  person  may  follow,"  and  to  send  him 
or  her  to  school  until  "he  or  she  may  learn  to  read,  write,  and 
perform  any  ordinary  calculation  incident  to  the  life  of  a  farmer ; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  the  apprenticeship,  to  furnish  such  ap- 
prentice with  two  suits  of  new  clothing  of  a  substantial  kind." 
This,  with  a  few  slight  changes,  has  remained  the  law  on  the 
subject  in  Mississippi. 

Under  early  legislation  in  Alabama  the  justices  of  the  county 
courts  were  to  appoint  the  overseers  of  the  poor  and  to  have  con- 
trol of  all  phases  of  poor  relief.  The  duties  of  the  overseers  were, 
among  others,  to  make  returns  to  the  county  courts  of  the  poor 
orphans,  children  of  criminals  and  of  parents  incapable  of  "  bring- 
ing them  up  in  honest  ways."  Such  children  were  to  be  bound  ap- 
prentices. With  a  few  slight  revisions  this  law  remained  in  force 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  65 

throughout  the  nineteenth  century  and  provided  that  "  the  person 
to  whom  such  apprentice  shall  be  bound,  shall  engage  by  a 
covenant,  to  be  entered  in  the  indenture,  to  provide  the  apprentice 
with  a  sufficiency  of  good  and  wholesome  provisions,  necessary 
clothing,  washing,  lodging ;  to  teach  the  said  apprentice  the 
business  or  occupation  which  he  pursues  for  a  livelihood;  and 
also  to  read,  write,  and  cypher,  as  far  as  the  rule  of  three; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  said  apprenticeship,  to  furnish  the 
said  apprentice  with  one  complete  new  suit  of  clothing,  and 
two  shirts ;  if  a  female,  one  complete  new  suit  of  clothes,  and  two 
shifts." 

The  earliest  law  on  the  subject  of  apprenticing  poor  children 
in  Arkansas,  enacted  just  prior  to  1840,  remained  essentially  un- 
changed throughout  the  century.  The  educational  feature,  how- 
ever, did  not  apply  between  1840  and  the  Civil  War  to  free  negroes 
and  mulattoes,  who  were  otherwise  apprenticed  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  other  children.  The  law  required  the  jnaster  or  mistress 
to  whom  the  children  were  bound  to  "  covenant  to  teach  the  ap- 
prentice some  useful  art,  trade  or  business,  to  be  particularized 
in  the  covenant;  and  shall  be  further  bound  therein  to  teach 
said  apprentice  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  to  the  rule  of 
three  inclusive.  ...  In  all  such  covenants,  by  parents  binding 
their  children,  the  indenture  shall  contain  the  covenant  requiring 
the  minors  to  be  sent  to  school  at  least  one  fourth  of  their  time, 
after  they  are  seven  years  of  age." 

The  law  in  Florida  required  the  county  courts  to  bind  out  all 
minors  who  were  poor  orphans,  vagrant  children,  the  children  of 
vagrants,  and  children  abandoned  by  their  parents.  Boys  were  to 
be  bound  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  girls  until  they  reached 
the  age  of  eighteen  years.  At  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  law  provided  that  "the  indenture  of  apprenticeship  shall  in 
all  cases  contain  a  covenant  by  the  master  or  mistress  to  teach 
the  apprentice  some  art,  trade,  business  or  occupation  to  be 
particularized  therein,  and  also  the  elements  of  reading,  writing 
and  arithmetic,  and  to  give  said  apprentice  a  new  suit  of  clothes, 


66  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

shoes  and  blanket  immediately  upon  the  lawful  expiration  of  the 
term  of  apprenticeship."  Minor  revisions  were  later  made. 

In  Texas  the  law  applied  to  males  until  they  were  twenty-one 
and  to  females  until  they  were  eighteen  years  of  age.  The  master 
was  required  to  furnish  the  apprentice  sufficient  food  and  clothing, 
to  treat  him  humanely,  to  furnish  him  medicine  and  medical  at- 
tention when  necessary,  and  to  teach  or  cause  him  to  be  taught 
to  read  and  write.  The  law  also  provided  that  the  master  should, 
"if  practicable,  send  said  minor  to  school  at  least  three  months  in 
each  year  during  the  continuance  of  such  apprenticeship,  after  said 
minor  has  arrived  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  and  while  such  minor 
is  within  the  scholastic  age." 

In  its  essential  features  the  system  of  apprenticeship  applied 
to  poor  children,  orphans,  illegitimate  children,  to  those  whose 
economic  competency  was  insufficient  to  maintain  and  educate 
them  "according  to  their  rank  and  degree,"  and  to  girls  as  well 
as  boys.  The  system  sometimes  applied  to  negro  and  mulatto 
children  also,  although  the  indentures  did  not  always  make  it 
obligatory  on  the  master  to  teach  his  negro  or  mulatto  apprentices 
to  read  and  write.  There  are  on  record,  however,  a  few  cases 
of  free  negro  children  who  were  bound  out  and  apprenticed 
under  indentures  which  gave  them  the  benefit  of  the  usual  edu- 
cational features  of  the  system.  The  practice  of  apprenticing 
children  of  the  classes  just  mentioned  was  very  general  throughout 
the  South,  though  more  extensive  in  some  States  than  in  others ; 
and  in  the  main  the  indentures  differed  but  little,  if  any,  from  the 
apprenticeship  system  in  operation  in  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. It  is  clear  that  the  system  was  inherited  from  England  and 
that  it  was  a  very  highly  important  agency,  especially  during 
the  colonial  period,  for  the  elementary  education  of  dependent 
and  unfortunate  children.  Such  children  were  recognized  as 
entitled  to  protection  and  to  certain  vocational  and  educational 
advantages. 

The  principal  agencies  for  putting  the  machinery  of  the  ap- 
prenticeship plan  into  operation  were  the  county  courts,  which 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  67 

met  quarterly  or  oftener.  The  powers  of  these  courts  were  con- 
ferred by  legislation  or  were  derived  from  custom  or  from  the 
common  law.  Their  interest  in  the  poor  and  dependent  children 
was  usually  more  than  nominal,  perhaps,  though  the  educational 
provisions  of  the  indentures  were  not  always  enforced ;  and  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  in  some  cases  the  indentures  or  their 
interpretations  were  more  favorable  to  masters  than  to  ap- 
prentices. Guardians  or  masters  were  required  to  report  annu- 
ally to  the  courts,  and  the  justices  were  likewise  required  to  make 
inquiry  annually  concerning  the  observance  of  the  law.  Often, 
however,  the  enforcement  of  the  agreements  or  indentures  de- 
pended on  whether  the  apprentices,  through  friends  or  the  grand 
jury,  were  able  to  get  their  cases  before  the  court.  Complaints 
of  failure  to  comply  with  the  law  and  the  indentures  were  frequent, 
and  penalties  for  neglect  were  often  heavy.  The  records  show 
that  occasionally  a  master  was  summoned  to  answer  the  complaint 
of  his  apprentice  and  to  "  shew  the  court  reasons  why  he  does  not 
teach  him  to  read,  as  by  indenture  he  is  obliged."  In  such  a 
case  the  master  usually  promised  to  "put  his  apprentice  forthwith 
to  school."  The  indentures  did  not  always  contain  the  educa- 
tional requirements  of  the  system,  despite  the  directions  of  the 
law ;  and  often,  no  doubt,  children  were  able  to  read  and  write 
before  they  were  apprenticed.  In  such  cases,  of  course,  there  was 
no  legal  necessity  for  including  the  educational  requirements  in 
the  agreement. 

The  extent  of  the  practice  in  the  South  will  probably  never  be 
accurately  known.  Evidence  on  this  point  is  scarce  and  more  or 
less  inaccessible.  Moreover,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  children 
who  were  apprenticed  often  took  up  their  places  in  the  homes  of 
the  guardians  or  masters  on  conditions  of  maintenance  and  care 
ordinarily  granted  other  members  of  the  household.  In  some 
cases  the  guardians  or  masters  doubtless  gave  their  apprentices 
essentially  the  same  attention  given  their  own  children ;  and 
when  apprentices  were  ill  used  the  law  or  custom  required  their 
removal  and  they  were  reapprenticed  to  other  masters  approved  by 


68  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  court.  The  success  of  the  educational  feature  of  apprentice- 
ship, therefore,  naturally  depended  on  the  interest  of  the  masters 
or  guardians  as  well  as  on  the  desire  of  the  apprentices  to  get 
"book  learning."  This  was  as  true  of  the  apprenticeship  system 
as  it  is  true  of  the  educational  features  of  public-welfare  endeavor 
today ;  and  from  the  earlier  practices  valuable  lessons  may  be 
gained  for  present-day  effort  in  the  important  enterprise  of  caring 
for  the  delinquent  and  dependent  children. 

It  was  noted  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  that  the  ap- 
prenticeship practices  were  economic,  humanitarian,  and  religious 
in  purpose.  The  old  apprenticeship  laws  generally  recognized  first 
the  economic  or  industrial  or  vocational  purpose,  because  there 
was  need  for  skilled  artisans  or  workers.  This  purpose  came  to  be 
the  dominating  one ;  though  the  humanitarian,  religious,  or  phil- 
anthropic purpose  may  be  seen  in  some  legislation  and  practice  of 
colonial  times.  In  the  main,  however,  the  purpose  was  to  give  poor, 
unfortunate,  and  neglected  children  opportunity  to  learn  useful 
trades  and  occupations  so  that  they  could  become  self-supporting 
and  not  public  charges.  The  principal  trades  and  occupations 
taught  the  apprentices  included  that  of  bricklayer,  saddler, 
tailor,  millwright,  silversmith,  barber,  blacksmith,  cooper,  carpen- 
ter and  joiner,  cordwainer  and  shoemaker,  twiner  and  weaver, 
in  addition  to  the  usual  agricultural  and  domestic  occupations 
so  important  in  the  life  of  the  South.  It  is  not  unlikely,  therefore, 
that  both  the  courts  and  the  masters  were  more  nearly  interested 
in  the  industrial  than  in  the  educational  features  of  the  apprentice- 
ship plan  and  through  it  sought  to  relieve  the  community  of  the 
financial  burden  incident  to  caring  for  its  dependents. 

In  the  purposes,  plans,  and  practices  of  the  poor  laws  and  the 
apprenticeship  system  of  colonial  times  valuable  lessons  appear 
for  the  teacher,  the  administrator,  and  the  social  reformer  of  to- 
day. The  old  system  in  theory  sought  to  give  vocational  and 
industrial  training,  to  protect  the  poor  and  unfortunate  children 
and  to  put  educational  opportunity  within  their  reach,  and  to 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  69 

promote  community  well-being.  Through  the  system  a  distinct 
form  of  compulsory  education  was  provided,  crude  and  defective 
but  containing  useful  elements.  But  the  general  plan  of  ap- 
prenticeship, though  admittedly  of  service  during  the  colonial 
period  and  even  later,  was  capable  of  wider  usefulness  than  it 
served.  At  best  it  was  haphazard  and  neglectful  in  operation 
and  failed  to  develop  a  wholesome  public  attitude  toward  social 
problems  of  that  period.  Moreover,  it  not  improbably  served  to 
delay  the  early  development  of  an  adequate  public-school  system 
and  to  inject  into  the  school  system  finally  set  up  the  element 
of  charity,  which  has  until  recent  years  proved  a  mischievous 
influence. 

Today  there  is  a  growing  consciousness  in  the  South  that  the 
State  owes  a  peculiar  duty  to  delinquent  and  neglected  children. 
They  have  become  objects  of  serious  social  concern.  Some  of 
them  are  cared  for  in  orphanages  or  other  institutions,  but  many 
remain  neglected  and,  through  no  fault  of  their  own,  are  denied 
the  opportunity  for  wholesome  growth  and  useful  citizenship. 
Through  juvenile  courts,  probation  officers,  children's  home  socie- 
ties, boards  of  charities,  and  public-welfare  agencies  of  various 
kinds  the  South  is  recognizing  the  obligation  to  these  classes, 
who  have  always  been  present  in  organized  social  groups.  The 
problem  is  a  significant  one  for  education  and  educators  and  pre- 
sents a  unique  challenge  to  all  good  citizens.  Its  solution  is  to 
be  found  in  intelligent  recognition  of  the  condition  as  it  exists, 
in  sensible  publicity  by  which  the-public  can  keep  safely  informed, 
in  a  rational  coordination  of  all  social  agencies  both  public  and 
private,  in  a  redirection  of  educative  forces  of  all  kinds,  and  in 
a  new  emphasis  on  personal  and  community  ideals  and  the  es- 
sentials of  effective  citizenship. 

Thus  new  duties  are  laid  on  the  school  and  the  teacher, 
whose  interest  and  activities,  if  properly  conceived  and  performed, 
will  extend  as  never  before  far  away  from  the  schoolhouse  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  community.  For  the  teachers  are 


70  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

now  more  than  at  any  time  in  the  past  the  keepers  and  the 
guardians  of  the  public  welfare:  through  them  it  must  be  pro- 
tected and  promoted  and  extended  to  all  members  of  the  com- 
munity, the  State,  and  the  nation;  and  largely  through  their 
work  universal  education  and  equality  of  educational  opportunity 
will  eventually  be  made  realities  in  the  life  of  all  the  people. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Account  for  the  development  of  the  poor  laws  and  the  apprentice- 
ship system  in  England. 

2.  Why  was  the  apprenticeship  system  set  up  in   the   Southern 
colonies  ? 

3.  Examine  the  early  legislation  and  records  on  the  subject  in  your 
State  for  (a)  purpose,  (6)  plan  of  operation,  and  (c)  the  extent  of  the 
system.    In  what  way  did  the  apprenticeship  practices  form  an  ele- 
mentary system  of  education  for  the  poor  and  dependent  children 
of  colonial  times  ?   Point  out  its  advantages ;  its  disadvantages. 

4.  In  what  way  or  ways  were  the  apprenticeship  laws  and  practices 
humanitarian,  philanthropic,  religious,  vocational,  industrial,  or  eco- 
nomic in  purpose?   Why  was  the  economic  purpose  probably  most 
powerful  in  the  system? 

6.  In  what  way  or  ways  did  the  apprenticeship  plan  retard  the 
early  development  of  a  public-school  system  ?  Did  it  in  any  way  help 
to  promote  an  interest  in  public  educational  effort  in  your  State?  In 
what  respect  did  it  form  a  compulsory  system  of  education  for  poor 
and  unfortunate  children  ? 

6.  Examine  the  court  records  of  your  county  for  peculiar  examples 
of  the  apprenticeship  system.   Why  is  the  system  less  extensive  today 
than  a  hundred  years  ago?   How  are  poor  and  dependent  children 
cared  for  in  your  State  today? 

7.  What  effort  is  your  State  making  to  promote  social  well-being 
through  the  education  and  training  of  neglected,  delinquent,  and  de- 
pendent children?   What  are  the  organized  public  agencies  for  this 
work  in  your  State?   Are  the  dominating  purposes  of  such  agencies 
economic,  humanitarian,  philanthropic,  charitable,  religious,  vocational, 
recreational,  or  corrective? 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  OF  DEPENDENTS  71 

8.  What  lessons  have  the  purposes,  plans,  and  results  of  the  old 
apprenticeship  system  for  the  teacher  and  the  educational  administrator 
or  social  worker  today  ?  Point  out  the  relation  between  it  and  public 
educational  enterprises  of  the  present. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BRUCE,  Economic  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  2  vols. 
New  York,  1907.  BRUCE,  Institutional  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seven- 
teenth Century,  2  vols.  New  York,  1910.  CLEWS,  Educational  Legislation 
and  Administration  of  the  Colonial  Governments.  New  York,  1899.  Cyclo- 
pedia of  Education  (edited  by  PAUL  MONROE),  Vol.  V.  New  York,  1913. 
JERNEGAN,  "Compulsory  Education  in  the  American  Colonies,"  in  the 
School  Review,  January,  1919 ;  "The  Educational  Development  of  the 
Southern  Colonies,"  in  the  School  Review,  May,  1919  ;  "Compulsory  Edu- 
cation in  the  Southern  Colonies,"  hi  the  School  Review,  June,  1919,  and 
February,  1920.  KNIGHT,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 
Boston,  1916.  KNIGHT,  "The  Evolution  of  Public  Education  in  Virginia," 
in  the  Sewanee  Review,  January,  1916.  LEACH,  English  Schools  at  the 
Reformation.  London,  1896.  NICHOLLS,  A  History  of  the  English  Poor 
Law,  3  vols.  New  York  and  London,  1898-1899.  POORE,  The  Federal  and 
State  Constitutions,  2  vols.  Washington,  1877.  Session  Acts,  Codes,  and 
Revisals  of  the  Southern  States  from  colonial  times  to  the  present.  TYLER, 
"Education  in  Colonial  Virginia,"  in  William  and  Mary  College  Quarterly 
Historkal  Magazine,  Vol.  V. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  (i)  In  general,  three  different  types  of 
secondary  schools  have  appeared  in  the  educational  development  of 
the  South, — the  Latin  grammar  school,  the  academy,  and  the  public 
high  school. 

2.  The  academy  appeared  in  England  after  1660  to  supply  the  need 
of  education  for  the  nonconformists,  but  in  America  it  grew  out  of 
frontier  conditions.   In  the  South  the  academy  was   of   two  kinds, 
one  local  and  short-lived,  the  other  more  pretentious  and  of  longer 
life.    Some   academies    owed   their   origin   to   sectarian   pride,   while 
others  grew  out  of  the  so-called  community  or  "old  field  schools." 
Evidence  of  this  appears  in  certain  descriptions  of  early  academies, 
especially  that  given  by  John  Davis  about  1800. 

3.  The  influence  of  denominational  interest  was  very  marked,  how- 
ever, in  the  development  of  early  academies.    This  appears  from  the 
work  of  the  Methodists,  the  Quakers,  the  Baptists,  and  especially  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  whose  educational  interests  were  wide 
and  powerful  throughout  the  South. 

4.  Numerous  academies  were  established  and  were  doing  highly 
creditable  work  in  the  South  by  1800,  and  the  work  continued  until 
about  1850. 

5.  The  manual-labor  schools  and  the  military  schools  were  two 
interesting  variants  of  the  academy.    Both  of  these  types  of  schools 
were  popular  for  a  time. 

6.  The  principal  characteristic  of  the  academies  made  them  peculiar 
educational  institutions  in  purpose,  hi  organization  and  control,  in  cur- 
riculum, and  often  in  results.   The  academies  influenced  the  programs 
of  higher  educational  institutions,  the  training  of  teachers,  the  higher 
education  of  women,  and  were  the  nuclei  from  which  many  Southern 
colleges  grew. 

7.  The  academy  began  to  decline  in  the  South  after  the  Civil  War, 
when  public  education  received  a  new  meaning;  since  that  time  its 
place  has  been  largely  taken  by  the  public  high  school. 

72 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  73 

Three  very  different  types  of  so-called  secondary  schools  have 
appeared  in  the  educational  growth  of  this  country.  The  first 
was  the  Latin  grammar  school  of  the  colonial  period,  in  which 
the  classics  and  elementary  mathematics  were  taught.  This  kind 
of  school  reached  its  greatest  development  in  New  England.  It 
was  not  an  important  institution  in  the  South,  although  oc- 
casionally such  a  school  was  found  in  that  region.  The  academy 
was  the  second  type  of  secondary  school.  It  began  to  appear 
about  1750  and  rapidly  developed  in  the  South  until  the  third 
type,  the  public  high  school,  began  to  gain  such  an  important 
place  after  the  Civil  War.  The  academy  was  a  very  highly 
respected  means  of  education  in  the  South,  where  it  extended  in 
greater  numbers  than  in  other  sections  of  the  country.  Its  most 
phenomenal  period  of  growth  covered  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  After  1870  it  began  to  yield  its  place  to  the 
public  high  school,  which  received  marked  impetus  by  the  Peabody 
Fund,  which  was  established  a  few  years  before  that  date. 

A  certain  historical  interest  attaches  to  the  manner  by  which 
the  word  "academy"  came  to  apply  to  the  type  of  school  which 
went  under  that  name  in  the  United  States  and  gave  a  form  of 
secondary  instruction.  The  word  was  often  used  to  describe 
schools  of  one  sort  or  another  by  numerous  notable  educational 
essays  which  were  produced  by  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance. 
In  Milton's  "Tractate  on  Education"  (1644)  the  Word  "academy" 
was  used  to  describe  a  school  where  "a  complete  and  generous 
culture"  was  furnished.  The  term  was  also  used  by  the  non- 
conformists in  England  to  describe  their  boarding  schools; 
Daniel  Defoe  used  the  word  in  "Essay  on  Projects,"  first  published 
about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  a  sense  similar  to 
that  used  by  Milton  and  by  numerous  others  who  wrote  on  the 
subject  of  education.  Defoe  used  the  word  "academy,"  however, 
to  designate  a  society  of  learned  men  to  promote  the  arts,  sciences, 
or  literature.  And  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  claimed  to  have  been 
greatly  influenced  by  the  "Essay  on  Projects,"  formulated,  near 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  plan  for  the  public 


74  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

education  of  the  youth  of  Pennsylvania  which  showed  the  influence 
of  the  celebrated  English  author.  The  pamphlet,  which  contained 
Franklin's  plan  for  an  academy,  had  an  extensive  circulation 
and  was  widely  read.  Moreover,  before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  numerous  educational  institutions  appeared  in  the  United 
States  which  in  organization  and  management  and  in  the  course 
and  method  of  instruction  obviously  followed  Franklin's  plan. 

The  academy  appeared  in  England  after  the  Restoration  (1660) 
to  supply  the  need  of  education  for  the  nonconformists,  who  not 
unlikely  used  the  term  as  employed  by  Milton  to  designate  the 
schools  which  they  established.  The  Act  of  Uniformity,  as  re- 
newed in  1662,  was  one  of  the  series  of  intolerant  laws  enacted 
under  the  second  Parliament  of  Charles  II.  Under  this  act  clergy- 
men who  refused  to  accept  in  its  entirety  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  were  excluded  from  holding  their  benefices.  About  two 
thousand  clergymen,  fully  one  fifth  of  all  the  rectors  and  vicars 
of  the  English  Church,  were  driven  from  their  parishes.  Those 
refusing  to  conform  to  that  Church  formed  one  class,  known 
as  dissenters  or  nonconformists.  Moreover,  the  Act  of  Uniformity 
required  the  license  of  the  Bishop  as  a  qualification  for  teaching 
and  also  excluded  dissenters  from  the  privileges  of  the  universi- 
ties; and  the  Five  Mile  Act  of  1665  completed  the  code  of 
persecution  against  the  nonconformists.  Under  its  provisions 
clergymen  excluded  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity  were  required  to 
take  an  oath  that  they  would  not  under  any  pretext  take  up  arms 
against  the  king  and  would  at  no  time  "  endeavor  any  alteration  of 
government  in  Church  or  State."  If  they  refused  to  take  such  an 
oath  they  were  not  permitted  to  go  within  five  miles  of  any 
borough  or  any  place  where  they  had  previously  ministered.  Most 
of  the  dissenters  belonged  to  the  urban  and  trading  classes,  and 
the  effect  of  this  act  was  to  deprive  them  of  any  religious  teach- 
ing whatever. 

Many  of  the  dissenters  thus  deprived  of  their  former  means 
of  livelihood  took  to  teaching  through  necessity.  Others,  how- 
ever, began  to  teach  by  choice,  while  many  of  them  were  doubtless 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  75 

moved  by  a  high  sense  of  duty  to  provide  educational  facilities 
by  which  their  future  leaders  could  be  trained.  But  on  account  of 
the  laws  enacted  against  them,  all  those  who  early  engaged  in 
teaching  were  forced  to  teach  by  stealth  or  to  become 'migratory 
in  order  to  escape  persecution  by  their  relentless  enemies.  In 
England,  therefore,  the  academy  was  a  result  of  nonconformity 
and  sprang  up  as  a  protest  against  religious  tyranny  and  the 
sectarian  intolerance  of  the  schools.  Moreover,  its  rise  shows 
the  appearance  of  a  demand  for  schools  which  were  not  ex- 
clusive in  character  but  were  open  to  all.  It  is  of  interest  to 
note,  therefore,  that  the  English  academy  did  not  draw  its 
students  exclusively  from  the  dissenters  and  that  it  frequently 
supplied  an  education  for  the  children  of  the  poor  as  well  as  for 
those  who  could  pay  the  fees. 

The  academy  in  America  has  been  called  the  product  of  the 
frontier  period  of  national  development  and  the  laissez  faire  theory 
of  government.  But  in  this  country  the  earlier  schools  of  the 
academy  type,  especially  those  which  developed  from  the  work 
and  influence  of  the  dissenters,  were  very  largely  denominational 
and  under  ecclesiastical  control.  Not  infrequently  the  motives 
back  of  their  establishment  found  root  in  denominational  interest 
and  sectarian  pride.  Later,  however,  with  a  phenomenal  increase 
in  denominations,  there  developed  a  marked  impatience  with  secta- 
rian strife.  A  new  but  persistent  educational  problem  resulted — 
the  problem  of  promoting  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
in  communities  which  were  remarkable  for  their  religious  diversity. 
This  impatience  and  discontent  gave  expression  to  a  protest 
against  using  the  school  as  a  means  of  teaching  blind  obedience 
to  religious  dogma  and  formalism.  Soon  the  general  principle 
was  evolved  that  sectarianism  and  denominationalism  should  not 
be  a  part  of  school  instruction — that  the  task  of  the  school-teacher 
was  not  to  give  instruction  in  theology  and  religious  dogma.  On 
the  other  hand,  however,  the  equally  significant  belief  developed 
that  the  broad  and  fundamental  aspects  of  religion  should  be 
stressed  fully  and  earnestly.  Meanwhile  men  appeared  who, 


76  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

though  of  different  religious  beliefs,  were  united  on  the  subject 
of  the  necessity  for  education  and  learning.  Therefore,  although 
the  academy  in  America  grew  into  a  school  which  was  pervaded 
by  a  deep  and  intense  religious  spirit,  it  became,  in  general, 
nonsectarian.  Moreover,  the  academy  was  not  exclusive  but 
democratic  in  character  and  reflected  the  new  American  spirit, 
which  demanded  opportunity  to  settle  "American  problems  in  an 
American  way." 

Academies  in  the  Southern  States  were  divided  into  two  prin- 
cipal classes.  One  class  was  local  and  modest  in  its  claims, 
transient  and  short-lived,  though  capable,  in  the  main,  of  supply- 
ing creditable  educational  facilities  in  the  communities  which  they 
served.  Schools  of  this  class  were  also  frequently  called  old 
field  schools,  hedge  schools,  or  forest  schools.  And  the  origin  of 
many  academies  in  the  South  appeared  not  only  in  the  old  field 
school  or  the  community  school  but  also  in  the  tutorial  system. 
With  an  increase  in  population  educational  facilities  increased, 
and  those  schools  which  were  more  substantially  established 
sought  incorporation  by  legislative  enactment,  with  some  of  the 
most  influential  men  of  the  community  as  trustees.  The  other 
class  had  a  wider  patronage,  was  more  pretentious,  and  possessed 
creditable  equipment  and  frequently  more  or  less  substantial 
endowments,  which  naturally  enabled  the  institution  to  extend  its 
usefulness  and  prolong  its  career.  All  academies,  however,  were 
usually  privately  controlled  and  managed  by  an  incorporated 
board  of  trustees.  Incorporation,  which  gave  the  trustees  a  legal 
existence  and  full  authority  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  school, 
was  all  that  most  of  the  academies  asked  .of  the  State,  and  this 
was  usually  all  the  official  recognition  or  assistance  given,  though 
occasionally  an  academy  was  given  the  privilege  of  raising  funds 
by  lottery.  Fees  were  invariably  charged,  though  in  a  few 
instances  poor  children  were  taught  free  of 'tuition  charges;  in 
some  cases  free  tuition  was  allowed  poor  children  in  return  for 
certain  privileges  or  aid  extended  by  the  State.  The  purpose  of 
the  academy  was  usually  the  same,  whether  large  or  small.  With 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  77 

the  growth  of  a  strong  democratic  spirit  in  the  revolutionary 
period  the  idea  of  a  liberal  education  appeared,  and  the  ideal  of 
education  for  its  own  sake  and  for  its  value  in  promoting  individ- 
ual worth  developed.  This  idea  of  a  liberal  education  for  heighten- 
ing individual  development  was  the  dominant  aim  of  the  academy 
movement.  And  while  the  academy  primarily  served  those  in- 
dividuals who  were  able  to  pay  for  its  advantages,  it  also  served 
in  a  larger  way  the  entire  community. 

All  the  earlier  academies,  however,  did  not  owe  their  origin  to 
sectarian  pride  and  denominational  interest.  As  often,  perhaps, 
schools  which  were  dignified  by  the  name  "academy"  grew  from 
tutorial  instruction  in  the  family  of  some  prominent  citizen  in 
the  community  or  from  the  so-called  community  or  old  field 
schools.  Evidence  for  this  explanation  of  the  origin  of  many 
earlier  academies  appeared  in  the  experiences  of  that  class  of 
teachers  who  found  temporary  employment  as  tutors  in  the  South. 
One  of  the  most  striking  of  these  testimonies  was  made  by  John 
Davis,  an  Englishman,  in  "Travels  of  Four  Years  and  a  Half  in 
the  United  States."1  Davis  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
education  and  training  and  of  pleasing  address,  and  during  his 
stay  in  this  country,  from  1798  to  1802,  numbered  among  his 
friends  many  men  of  high  political  and  social  station.  He  was  a 
private  tutor  in  New  York  and  South  Carolina  and  Virginia,  and 
his  descriptions  of  men  and  manners  have  an  interesting  educa- 
tional significance.  The  sketch  below  tells  of  his  work  as  a  tutor 
in  Virginia.  With  letters  of  introduction  from  Thomas  Jefferson 
and  other  prominent  men,  Davis  went  to  the  plantation  of  a 
Mr.  Ball,  probably  in  Prince  William  County,  and  engaged  to 
teach  his  and  his  neighbors'  children. 

The  following  day  every  farmer  came  from  the  neighborhood  to  the 
house,  who  had  any  children  to  send  to  my  academy,  for  such  they 
did  me  the  honor  to  term  the  log  hut  in  which  I  was  to  teach.  Each 
man  brought  his  son,  or  his  daughter,  and  rejoiced  that  the  day  was 

1  London,  1803.  The  copy  which  the  author  examined  is  in  the  Library 
of  Congress. 


78  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

arriving  when  their  little  ones  could  light  their  tapers  at  the  torch  of 
knowledge !  I  was  confounded  at  the  encomiums  they  heaped  upon  a 
man  whom  they  had  never  seen  before,  and  was  at  a  loss  what 
construction  to  put  upon  their  speech.  No  price  was  too  great  for 
the  services  I  was  to  render  their  children ;  and  they  all  expressed  an 
eagerness  to  exchange  perishable  coin  for  lasting  knowledge.  If  I 
would  continue  with  them  seven  years  they  would  erect  for  me  a 
brick  seminary  on  a  hill  not  far  off;  but  for  the  present  I  was  to 
occupy  a  log  house,  which,  however  homely,  would  soon  vie  with  the 
sublime  college  of  William  and  Mary,  and  consign  to  oblivion  the 
renowned  academy  in  the  vicinity  of  Fauquier  Court  House.  I  thought 
Englishmen  sanguine ;  but  these  Virginians  were  infatuated. 

I  now  opened  what  some  call  an  academy,  but  others  an  old  field 
school ;  and,  however  it  may  be  thought  that  content  was  never  felt 
within  the  walls  of  a  seminary,  I,  for  my  part,  experienced  an  exemp- 
tion from  care,  and  was  not  such  a  fool  as  to  measure  the  happiness  of 
my  condition  by  what  others  thought  of  it. 

It  is  worth  while  to  describe  the  academy  I  occupied  on  Mr.  Ball's 
plantation.  It  had  one  room  and  a  half.  It  stood  on  blocks  about 
two  feet  and  a  half  above  the  ground,  where  there  was  free  access  to 
the  hogs,  the  dogs,  and  the  poultry.  It  had  no  ceiling,  nor  was  the 
roof  lathed  or  plastered,  but  covered  with  shingles.  Hence,  when  it 
rained,  I  moved  my  bed  (for  I  slept  in  the  academy),  to  the  most 
comfortable  corner.  It  had  one  window,  but  no  glass  nor  shutter. 
In  the  night,  to  remedy  this,  the  mulatto  wench  who  waited  on  me, 
contrived  ingeniously  to  place  a  square  board  against  the  window  with 
one  hand,  and  fix  the  rail  of  a  broken  down  fence  against  it  with  the 
other.  In  the  morning  when  I  returned  from  breakfasting  in  the 
"great  big  house,"  (my  scholars  being  collected),  I  gave  the  rail  a 
forcible  kick  with  my  foot,  and  down  tumbled  the  board  with  an 
awful  roar.  .  .  . 

It  was  pleasurable  to  behold  my  pupils  enter  the  school  over  which 
I  presided;  for  they  were  not  composed  only  of  truant  boys,  but 
some  of  the  fairest  damsels  in  the  country.  Two  sisters  generally  rode 
on  one  horse  to  the  school  door,  and  I  was  not  so  great  a  pedagogue 
as  to  refuse  them  my  assistance  to  dismount  from  their  steed.  A  run- 
ning footman  of  the  negro  tribe,  who  followed  with  their  food  in  a 
basket,  took  care  of  the  beast ;  and  after  being  saluted  by  the  young 
ladies  by  the  courtesies  of  the  morning,  I  proceeded  to  instruct  them, 
with  great  exhortations  to  diligence  of  study. 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  79 

Common  books  were  only  designed  for  common  minds.  The  un- 
connected lessons  of  Scott,  the  tasteless  selections  of  Bingham,  the 
florid  harangues  of  Noah  Webster,  and  the  somniferous  compilations 
of  Alexander  were  either  thrown  aside,  or  suffered  to  gather  dust  on 
the  shelf;  while  the  charming  essays  of  Goldsmith  and  his  not  less 
delectable  novel,  together  with  the  impressive  works  of  Defoe,  and 
the  mild  productions  of  Addison,  conspired  to  enchant  the  fancy,  and 
kindle  a  love  for  reading.  The  thoughts  of  these  writers  became  en- 
grafted on  the  minds,  and  the  combinations  of  their  dictions  on  the 
language  of  the  pupils. 

Of  the  boys  I  cannot  speak  in  very  encomiastic  terms;  but  they 
were  perhaps  like  all  other  school  boys,  that  is,  more  disposed  to  play 
truant  than  to  enlighten  their  minds.  The  most  important  knowledge 
to  an  American,  after  that  of  himself,  is  the  geography  of  his  country. 
I,  therefore,  put  into  the  hands  of  my  boys  a  proper  book,  and  ini- 
tiated them  by  an  attentive  reading  of  the  discovery  of  the  Genoese ; 
I  was  even  so  minute  as  to  impress  on  their  minds  the  man  who  first 
described  land  on  board  the  ship  of  Columbus.  That  man  was 
Roderic  Triana,  and  on  my  exercising  the  memory  of  a  boy  by  asking 
him  the  name,  he  very  gravely  made  answer,  "Roderic  Random." 

Among  my  male  students  was  a  New  Jersey  gentleman  of  thirty, 
whose  object  was  to  be  initiated  in  the  language  of  Cicero  and  Virgil. 
He  had  before  studied  the  Latin  Grammar  at  an  academy  (I  use  his 
own  words),  in  his  native  State;  but  the  academy  school  being  burnt 
'down,  his  grammar,  alas  !  was  lost  in  the  conflagration,  and  he  had 
neglected  the  pursuit  of  literature  since  the  destruction  of  his  book. 
When  I  asked  him  if  he  did  not  think  it  was  some  Goth  who  had 
set  fire  to  his  academy  school,  he  made  answer,  "So,  it  is  like  enough." 
Mr.  Dye  did  not  study  Latin  to  refine  his  taste,  direct  his  judgment, 
or  enlarge  his  imagination ;  but  merely  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
teach  it  when  he  opened  school,  was  his  serious  design.  He  had  been 
bred  a  carpenter,  but  he  panted  for  the  honors  of  literature.1 

I  frequently  protracted  the  studies  of  the  children  till  one,  or  half 
past  one  o'clock ;  a  practice  that  did  not  fail  to  call  forth  the  exclama- 
tions both  of  the  white  and  black  people.  "Upon  my  word,"  Mr.  Ball 
would  say,  "the  gentleman  is  diligent;"  and  Aunt  Patty,  the  negro 

1  Davis  relates  that  "  the  recreation  of  Mr.  Dye,  after  the  labor  of  study, 
was  to  get  under  the  shade  of  an  oak,  and  make  tables,  or  benches,  or 
stools  for  the  academy.  So  true  is,  the  assertion  of  Horace,  that  the  cask 
will  always  retain  the  flavor  of  liquor  with  which  it  is  first  impregnated." 


8o  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

cook,  would  remark,  "He  not  like  old  Hodgkinson  and  old  Harris,  who 
let  the  boys  out  before  twelve.  He  deserves  good  wages.  .  .  ."1 

I  had  been  three  months  invested  in  the  first  executive  office  of 
pedagogue,  when  a  cunning  old  fox  of  a  New  Jersey  planter  (a 
Mr.  Lee),  discovered  that  his  eldest  boy  wrote  a  better  hand  than  I. 
Fame  is  swift-footed ;  the  discovery  spread  far  and  wide,  and  whither- 
soever I  went,  I  was  an  object  for  the  hand  of  scorn  to  point  his 
slow,  unmoving  finger  at,  as  a  schoolmaster  that  could  not  write. 
Virginia  gave  me  for  the  persecutions  I  underwent,  a  world  of  sighs ; 
her  swelling  heavens  rose  and  fell  with  indignation  at  old  Lee  and  his 
abettors.  But  the  boys  caught  spirit  from  the  discovery.  I  could 
perceive  a  mutiny  breaking  out  among  them ;  and  had  I  not  in  time 
broke  down  a  few  branches  from  an  apple  tree  before  my  door,  it  is 
probable  they  would  have  displayed  their  gratitude  for  my  instruction 
by  throwing  me  out  of  the  school  window.  But  by  arguing  with  one 
over  the  shoulders,  and  another  over  the  back,  I  maintained  with 
dignity  the  first  executive  office  of  pedagogue. 

Three  months  had  now  elapsed,  and  I  was  commanded  officially  to 
resign  my  sovereign  authority  to  Mr.  Dye,  who  was  in  every  respect 
better  qualified  to  discharge  its  sacred  functions.  He  understood  tare 
and  trett,  wrote  a  copperplate  hand,  and,  balancing  himself  on  one  leg, 
could  flourish  angels  and  corkscrews.  I,  therefore,  gave  up  the  "acad- 
emy school"  to  Mr.  Dye,  to  the  joy  of  the  boys,  but  to  the  sorrow 
of  Virginia. 

Judge  Longstreet,  of  Georgia,  in  "Georgia  Scenes,"  described 
an  academy  as  he  saw  it  in  that  State  in  1790,  which  was  not 
altogether  unlike  the  one  Davis  taught  in  Virginia. 

It  was  a  simple  log  pen,  about  twenty  feet  square,  with  a  doorway 
cut  out  of  the  logs,  to  which  was  fitted  a  rude  door  made  of  clap- 
boards, and  swung  on  wooden  hinges.  The  roof  was  covered  with  clap- 
boards also,  retained  in  their  places  by  heavy  logs  placed  on  them. 
The  chimney  was  built  of  logs,  diminishing  in  size  from  the  ground 
to  the  top,  and  overspread  inside  and  out  with  red  clay  mortar.  A 
large  three-inch  plank  (if  it  deserves  that  name)  for  it  was  wrought 
from  the  half  of  a  tree's  trunk  entirely  with  the  axe),  attached  to  logs 

1  Davis  admitted  that  he  taught  a  greater  number  of  hours  than  his  con- 
tract required  because  of  his  interest  in  the  lessons  of  Virginia,  one  of  his 
"fair  disciples." 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  81 

by  means  of  wooden  pins,  served  the  whole  school  for  a  writing-desk. 
At  a  convenient  distance  below  it,  and  on  a  line  with  it,  stretched  a 
smooth  log,  which  answered  for  the  writer's  seat. 

Commenting  on  this  description  of  what  he  called  an  old  field 
school,  the  Reverend  Barnas  Sears,  first  general  agent  of  the 
Peabody  Fund,  said  that  "intelligent  persons,  belonging  to  differ- 
ent States,  have  assured  me  that  they  were  educated  in  such 
academies,  as  they  were  sometimes  termed."  Sherwood,  in  "A 
Gazetteer  of  Georgia,"  said  of  the  academies  of  that  State : 

Many  of  these,  however,  are  misnamed ;  for  an  academy  supposes 
instruction  in  the  higher  branches  of  education;  but  some  are  no 
better  than  "old  field  schools."  We  hope  the  Legislature  will  see  to  it, 
in  the  future,  that  no  charter  of  incorporation  shall  be  granted  to  any 
body  of  trustees,  unless  it  be  a  sine  qua  non,  that  in  such  academy 
there  shall  be  taught,  at  least  a  part  of  the  year,  the  learned  languages 
and  higher  branches  of  the  mathematics.  Deception  enough  has  been 
practiced  in  manufacturing  academies,  as  they  are  called,  to  get  money 
from  the  treasury.  When  established,  they  have  no  better  claims  to 
pecuniary  aid  than  any  other  school :  they  draw  money  merely  be- 
cause they  have  trustees,  and  are  incorporated ! 

Although  the  management  of  practically  all  academies  in  the 
later  period  of  the  movement  was  free  from  sectarianism  in 
religion  and  from  partisan  bias  in  politics,  as  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  yet  not  a  few  of  the  earlier  ones  had  their  origin  in 
denominational  pride.  This  was  due  to  the  break-up  of  religious 
conservatism  near  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when 
dissenters  greatly  increased  and  nonconformity  began  to  assume 
powerful  proportions.  The  Germans,  who  began  to  come  in  as 
early  as  1745  and  continued  until  near  the  close  of  the  century, 
established  schools  and  churches  wherever  they  settled;  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Pennsylvania  Quakers  likewise  added  intellectual 
and  moral  strength ;  numerous  European  Baptists  settled  in  the 
South,  especially  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  began  an 
educational  influence  which  was  far-reaching;  the  educational 
influence  of  the  Methodists  of  the  "Asburyan  period"  rapidly 


82  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

extended;  and  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  greatly  influenced 
educational  growth  in  that  region. 

The  schools  of  the  Methodists  were  few  before  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  yet  the  early  educational  work  of  this 
denomination  serves  to  illustrate  the  statement  that  some  of  the 
earlier  academies  had  their  origin  in  sectarian  interest.  The 
Methodists  were  not  numerous  in  this  country  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  as  late  as  1785  the  entire  American  membership  num- 
bered only  about  eighteen  thousand.  But  they  showed  interest 
in  education  and  before  the  close  of  the  century  organized  a  few 
schools  in  the  South.  Ebenezer  School,  in  Brunswick  County, 
Virginia,  founded  in  1785,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  Methodist 
school  established  in  this  country ;  and  Cokesbury  College,  estab- 
lished at  Abingdon,  Maryland,  in  the  same  year,  was  the  first 
Methodist  College  in  the  world.  Bethel  School  (founded  in 
Kentucky  in  1790),  Cokesbury  School  (established  in  Rowan, 
now  Davie  County,  North  Carolina,  about  1793),  and  the 
Cokesbury  or  Bethel  School  (founded  in  Newberry  County,  South 
Carolina,  in  1796)  were  some  of  the  institutions  begun  by  the 
Methodists.  The  trustees  agreed  that  the  South  Carolina  School 
should  be  free  and  that  "  only  the  English  tongue  and  the  sciences 
should  be  taught." 

The  most  significant  educational  work  of  all  these  dissenters, 
however,  was  that  of  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians. 
They  had  great  faith  in  the  value  of  education,  and  their  high 
esteem  and  reverence  for  an  educated  ministry  led  them  to 
emphasize  secondary  and  collegiate  training.  They  spread  over 
practically  all  the  colonies,  but  were  especially  strong  in  the  South, 
where  they  became  the  leaders  of  intellectual  and  religious  devel- 
opment during  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  every 
community  where  they  came  a  schoolhouse  and  church  sprang  up 
simultaneously  with  the  settlement;  "almost  invariably  as  soon 
as  a  neighborhood  was  settled  preparations  were  made  for  preach- 
ing the  gospel  by  a  regular  stated  pastor,  and  wherever  a  pastor 
was  located,  in  that  congregation  there  was  a  classical  school." 


83 

Moreover,  Princeton  College  proved  an  educational  impulse  to  the 
South.  Scores  of  its  graduates,  many  of  them  native  Southerners, 
returned  and  became  intellectual  and  religious  leaders.  Many  of 
them  promoted  the  "log  college"  movement  which  developed 
among  the  Presbyterians,  supplying  "log  colleges,"  which  often 
served  as  academies,  colleges,  and  theological  seminaries  and 
which  in  many  respects  belonged  to  the  regular  academy  type. 

One  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the  early  Presbyterian  teachers 
in  the  South  was  Dr.  David  Caldwell,  whose  celebrated  "log  col- 
lege" was  located  near  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  where  it  had 
a  long  and  useful  career.  Caldwell  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in 
1725  and  was  graduated  from  Princeton  with  the  degree  of  bach- 
elor of  arts  in  1761.  Four  years  later  he  came  to  North  Carolina 
as  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  in  1767  founded  the  school  which 
in  a  short  time  became  the  most  important  institution  of  learning 
in  the  State  and  one  of  the  most  influential  in  the  South.  This 
"log  college"  was  known  for  its  thoroughness  rather  than  for  its 
extensive  curriculum  or  its  large  enrollment.  The  average  annual 
enrollment  was  between  fifty  and  sixty,  but  it  is  said  that  more 
men  entered  the  learned  professions  from  this  institution  than 
from  any  other  school  in  the  South.  Five  of  Dr.  Caldwell's  stu- 
dents became  governors  of  States,  several  of  them  became  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  and  many  others  were  distinguished  as  jurists, 
physicians,  preachers,  and  teachers.  But  for  a  temporary  inter- 
ruption by  the  British  in  1781  the  institution  had  an  unbroken 
career  of  success  until  1822,  when  old  age  compelled  its  brilliant 
leader  to  retire  from  active  service.1 

Another  famous  Presbyterian  teacher,  who  in  his  work  and 
influence  bears  a  striking  similarity  to  Caldwell,  was  Moses 
Waddel.  He  was  born  in  Rowan  County,  North  Carolina,  in  1770, 
and  was  graduated  from  Hampden-Sidney  College,  in  Virginia, 
in  1791.  He  taught  a  few  years  before  doing  his  college  work, 
which  he  completed  in  a  short  time,  and  then,  like  Caldwell, 
began  his  life  work  as  preacher  and  teacher.  His  first  work  after 

1  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  iii. 


84  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

leaving  college  was  in  Georgia ;  then  he  went  to  South  Carolina, 
and  in  1804  opened  a  school  at  Willington,  on  "the  high  ridge 
between  the  Savannah  and  Little  Rivers."  The  Huguenot  settlers 
and  the  Scotch-Irish  of  that  region  furnished  him  many  students, 
but  others  gathered  from  "all  parts  of  this  and  adjoining  States, 
and  the  wild  woods  of  the  Savannah  resounded  with  the  echoes 
of  Homer  and  Virgil,  Cicero  and  Horace."  Numerous  students 
were  here  prepared  for  Princeton,  Yale,  and  Harvard,  and  not  a 
few  of  the  better  ones  for  the  junior  classes  in  these  institutions. 
Among  his  pupils  were  many  who  became  jurists,  congressmen, 
governors,  educators,  and  clergymen  of  wide  reputation.  Waddel 
was  a  tireless  and  devoted  student  and  teacher  of  the  classics. 
It  is  said  that  the  dull  boys  of  his  classes  would  prepare  more 
than  one  hundred  lines  of  Virgil  for  a  single  recitation,  and 
some  of  the  brightest  boys  as  many  as  a  thousand  lines.  The 
school  was  large  at  times,  often  having  an  enrollment  of  two 
hundred.  Waddel  continued  at  its  head  until  1819,  when  he  was 
elected  president  of  Franklin  College,  now  the  University  of 
Georgia.  The  school  at  Willington  seems  to  have  continued, 
however,  under  the  direction  of  his  sons  for  several  years  after 
the  famous  teacher  went  to  Georgia. 

There  were  numerous  other  schools  which  grew  out  of  the 
Presbyterian  influences  in  the  South  in  the  eighteenth  century 
and  which  became  educational  leaders  in  the  communities  where 
they  were  established.  Prince  Edward  Academy,  in  Virginia, 
established  in  1775,  grew  into  Hampden-Sidney  College;  Liberty 
Hall  Academy,  established  in  the  same  State  in  1776,  developed 
into  Washington  and  Lee  University ;  Clio's  Nursery  and  Science 
Hall  was  opened  about  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  in  Iredell 
County,  North  Carolina,  by  Dr.  James  Hall,  who  was  graduated 
from  Princeton  in  1774;  Zion  Parnassus  was  established  near 
Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  in  1785,  by  the  Reverend  Samuel  C. 
McCorkle,  who  was  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1772.  This 
school  was  well  known  for  its  normal  department,  which  was  the 
first  attempt  at  teacher-training  in  North  Carolina  and  one  of 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  85 

the  first  in  this  country,  and  for  its  assistance  with  tuition  and 
books  to  worthy  students.  The  school  maintained  a  high  order 
of  scholarship  and  had  an  extensive  influence.  Six  of  the  seven 
members  of  the  first  graduating  class  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  received  their  college  preparation  in  this  academy. 

Tate's  Academy  was  founded  in  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  in 
1760,  by  the  Reverend  James  Tate,  and  was  continued  by  him 
for  nearly  two  decades;  Crowfield  Academy,  opened  near  Char- 
lotte, North  Carolina,  in  1760,  was  the  nucleus  from  which 
Davidson  College,  in  that  State,  developed.  Queen's  Museum, 
or  Liberty  Hall  Academy,  was  another  Presbyterian  school  in 
North  Carolina  which  became  known  as  an  important  institution 
for  higher  education.  It  was  the  last  institution  to  seek  incorpora- 
tion from  the  king  and  the  first  to  receive  a  charter  from  the  new 
State.  The  school  had  its  beginning  in  the  work  of  the  Reverend 
Joseph  Alexander,  who  was  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1760 
and  who,  with  a  Mr.  Benedict,  established  a  small  classical  school 
in  a  prosperous  and  intelligent  community  near  Charlotte  seven 
years  later.  In  1770  it  was  chartered  by  the  Assembly  as  Queen's 
Museum,  but  the  charter  was  repealed  by  the  king  and  council. 
A  second  charter  was  secured,  but  only  to  meet  the  same  fate; 
fear  that  the  school  would  become  a  great  and  permanent  ad- 
vantage to  the  dissenters  and  a  "fountain  of  republicanism"  led 
to  the  repeal  of  the  charters.  In  spite  of  royal  disfavor,  however, 
the  institution  flourished  without  a  charter ;  the  house  was  used 
for  literary  and  debating  clubs  and  accommodated  the  meeting 
which  formulated  the  reputed  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. In  1775  the  name  was  changed  to  Liberty  Hall  Acad- 
emy, and  two  years  later  it  received  a  charter  from  the  State. 

Sunbury  Academy,  chartered  by  the  Legislature  of  Georgia,  in 
1788,  occupied  a  high  and  influential  place  in  the  educational 
life  of  that  State  for  nearly  forty  years.  The  success  of  this 
school  is  closely  associated  with  the  name  of  the  Reverend  William 
McWhir,  who  had  charge  of  the  institution  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
He  was  a  native  of  Ireland  and  a  licensed  Presbyterian  minister. 


86  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

He  came  to  America  about  1783,  for  ten  years  had  charge  of  an 
academy  at  Alexandria,  Virginia,  of  which  George  Washington  was 
a  trustee,  and  in  1793  became  principal  of  Sunbury  Academy. 
The  enrollment  in  this  school  averaged  about  seventy,  but  the 
pupils  came  from  many  counties  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State. 
Dr.  McWhir's  great  success  as  a  teacher  was  attributed  to  his 
devout  scholarship  and  to  his  qualities  as  a  disciplinarian  and 
instructor  which  left  a  profound  impress  on  the  educational 
progress  of  Georgia. 

Davidson  Academy,  located  in  what  is  now  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, was  chartered  by  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina,  the 
parent  State,  in  1785.  The  school  was  rechartered  as  Cumber- 
land College  in  1806  and  twenty  years  later  as  the  University 
of  Nashville,  which  had  a  long  career  of  usefulness.  But  the  early 
history  of  the  academy  is  linked  with  the  name  of  Thomas  B. 
Craighead,  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth  and  Scotch-Irish  by 
descent.  He  was  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1775,  was  ordained 
a  Presbyterian  minister  five  years  later,  and  early  in  1785  took 
up  his  residence  near  Nashville.  Colonel  William  Pope  and  Gen- 
eral James  Robertson  represented  Davidson  County  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  North  Carolina  and  secured  the  legislation  incorporating 
Davidson  Academy.  These  two  men  and  other  prominent  cit- 
izens in  the  community  were  the  trustees,  and  the  school  soon 
attained  a  high  position  in  public  esteem.  The  following  year 
Craighead  was  elected  principal,  a  position  which  he  held  suc- 
cessfully for  two  decades.  His  influence  as  teacher  and  preacher 
suggests  the  work  of  Caldwell  in  North  Carolina  and  of  Waddel 
in  South  Carolina. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and,  indeed,  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able of  these  Presbyterian  teachers  was  John  Chavis,  a  full- 
blooded  free-born  negro  of  North  Carolina.  He  was  born  in 
Granville  County  in  that  State  about  1763.  He  early  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  white  people  and  was  sent  to  Princeton  "to  see 
if  a  negro  would  take  a  collegiate  education."  As  a  private  pupil 
under  Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  a  famous  teacher  and  president 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  87 

of  Princeton,  Chavis's  evidence  of  ability  to  learn  convinced  his 
friends  that  the  experiment  would  be  successful.  After  leaving 
college  Chavis  went  to  Virginia  and  engaged  in  religious  work, 
but  returned  to  his  native  State  in  1805  at  the  request  of  Reverend 
Henry  Patillo  and  engaged  in  religious  and  educational  work 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  opened  a  clas- 
sical school  soon  after  his  return  and  taught  for  a  number  of 
years  in  the  counties  of  Chatham,  Granville,  and  Wake  in  North 
Carolina. 

Both  as  a  preacher  and  teacher  he  was  highly  regarded  by 
the  best  people  in  these  communities.  His  English  was  said  to 
be  remarkable  for  its  purity  and  its  freedom  from  "negroisms," 
and  his  manner  was  impressive.  He  had  a  rare  knowledge  of 
Greek  and  Latin  and  of  the  Scriptures  and  was  regarded  as  a 
powerful  teacher  and  preacher.  He  continued  his  formal  religious 
work  until  1831,  when  the  Legislature  forbade  negroes  to  preach. 
His  work  as  a  teacher,  however,  was  perhaps  the  most  remark- 
able feature  of  his  life.  His  school  was  attended  by  the  best  white 
people  of  the  community,  among  whom  were  several  who  later 
became  distinguished.  Willie  P.  Mangum,  later  United  States 
Senator  from  North  Carolina,  and  Charles  Manly,  who  later  be- 
came governor  of  the  State,  as  well  as  other  prominent  people, 
were  reported  among  his  students.  James  H.  Homer,  for  many 
years  a  well-known  secondary  educational  leader  in  North  Caro- 
lina, said  of  Chavis :  "  My  father  not  only  went  to  school  to  him 
but  boarded  in  the  family.  .  .  .  The  school  was  one  of  the  best  to 
be  found  in  the  State."  And  Professor  John  Spencer  Bassett  says : 

From  a  source  of  the  greatest  respectability  I  have  learned  that  this 
negro  was  received  as  an  equal  socially  and  asked  to  table  by  the 
most  respectable  people  in  the  neighborhood.  Such  was  the  position 
of  the  best  specimen  of  the  negro  race  in  North  Carolina  in  the  days 
before  race  prejudices  were  aroused. 

The  work  of  the  Presbyterians  and  other  dissenters  gave  notice- 
able impetus  to  the  academy  movement  after  the  Revolution,  and 


88  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

by  1800  numerous  academies  could  be  found  in  all  the  Southern 
States.  In  Virginia  they  appeared  early  and  multiplied  rapidly ; 
by  the  dose  of  the  century  twenty-five  or  more  were  flourishing  in 
that  State.  Among  the  best  known  were  Prince  Edward  Academy, 
Liberty  Hall  Academy,  Fredericksburg  Academy,  ShepherdstOwn 
Academy,  Norfolk  Academy,  Winchester  Academy,  Petersburg 
Academy,  Alexandria  Academy,  and  several  others.  By  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century  more  than  two  hundred  had  been 
incorporated,  and  there  were  scores  of  less  pretentious  ones  that 
had  not  been  chartered  but  were  very  active. 

The  practice  of  founding  and  chartering  academies  was  equally 
as  popular  in  the  Carolinas.  In  North  Carolina  thirty  were 
chartered  by  the  Legislature  before  1800,  and  from  that  time  until 
the  movement  declined  from  two  to  twelve  were  incorporated  at 
nearly  every  meeting  of  that  body.  Many  academies  appeared  in 
South  Carolina  also  between  1800  and  1850. 

The  constitution  of  Georgia  in  1777  provided  for  schools  to  be 
supported  in  each  county  of  the  State  at  public  expense,  and  the 
Legislature  of  1783  provided  a  land  endowment  for  a  system  of 
county  academies,  which  it  continued  to  control  and  support  until 
1840.  This  is  the  clearest  example  in  the  South  of  state  support 
for  academies.  Under  the  same  act  a  free  school  was  established 
in  Washington,  Wilkes  County,  and  two  academies  were  founded 
— at  Waynesboro,  in  Burke  County,  and  at  Augusta,  in  Rich- 
mond County.  The  latter  academy  became  known  as  the 
Richmond  County  Academy  and  was  perhaps  the  most  famous  and 
influential  in  the  entire  State.  Its  work  continued  with  marked 
success  throughout  the  ante-bellum  period.  In  1845  it  had  an 
equipment  valued  at  $30,000  and  an  annual  income  from  real- 
estate  holdings  amounting  to  $1600,  besides  $12,000  worth  of 
bank  stock  and  considerable  land.  During  the  Civil  War  the 
building  was  converted  into  a  Confederate  hospital,  and  at  the 
close  of  hostilities  it  was  occupied  for  a  time  by  Federal  troops. 
The  school  was  reopened,  however,  in  1868  and  began  again  a 
career  of  great  educational  influence. 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  89 

This  plan  of  land  endowment  for  academies  and  other  stimuli 
given  by  the  State  promoted  the  growth  of  this  type  of  institution. 
In  1785  the  county  academies  were  placed  under  the  admin- 
istrative system  of  the  newly  established  state  university,  though 
its  authority  over  those  schools  proved  to  be  more  nominal  than 
real.  The  constitution  of  1798  provided  that  the  Legislature 
should  "give  such  further  donations  and  privileges"  to  the  schools 
in  operation  at  that  time  uas  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  ob- 
jects of  their  institution."  This  greatly  stimulated  the  growth 
of  the  academy,  and  by  1820  thirty-one  had  been  chartered.  The 
following  year  the  sum  of  $250,000  was  set  aside  as  an  academic 
fund,  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  divided  among  certain 
authorized  academies  in  the  counties  or  to  be  appropriated  to  aid 
elementary  education.  The  effect  of  this  fund  was  immediate. 
More  than  three  times  as  many  academies  were  chartered  during 
the  next  decade  as  were  established  during  the  previous  forty 
years.  In  1831  there  were  more  than  one  hundred  such  schools 
in  the  State,  and  ten  years  later  the  number  had  greatly  in- 
creased. In  1837,  however,  the  academic  fund  had  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  so-called  common-school  fund,  and  the  number  of 
academies  chartered  began  noticeably  to  decline. 

The  early  history  of  education  in  Tennessee  is  a  complicated 
story  throughout.  It  is,  as  Phelan  has  so  well  said  in  his  history 
of  that  State,  closely  connected  with  the  history  of  public  lands, 
which  is  the  history  of  confusion.  Tennessee  was  settled  from 
North  Carolina  near  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  its 
history  for  many  years  was  closely  related  to  that  of  the  parent 
State.  Samuel  Doak,  a  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian,  was  one  of 
the  earliest  teachers  in  what  is  now  Tennessee  and  opened  a  school 
at  Salem  about  1780.  Three  years  later  the  Legislature  of  North 
Carolina  chartered  Martin  Academy  in  what  is  now  Washington 
County,  Tennessee,  and  granted  it  the  same  privileges  and  powers 
granted  Liberty  Hall  Academy  when  that  institution  was  in- 
corporated in  1777.  Martin  Academy  grew  into  Washington  Col- 
lege in  1795  and  has  been  called  the  first  educational  institution 


90  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

established  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  In  1785  Davidson  Academy 
in  Nashville  was  incorporated.  This  institution  was  the  beginning 
of  Cumberland  College,  established  in  1806,  and  became  the 
University  of  Nashville  in  1826. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  phases  of  the  State's  educational 
history  developed  from  a  compact  to  which  Tennessee,  North 
Carolina,  and  the  Federal  Government  were  parties,  the  terms  of 
which  agreement  were  expressed  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  April 
18,  1806.  In  1790  North  Carolina  had  ceded  to  the  Federal 
Government  all  the  lands  within  the  territory  now  known  as 
Tennessee.  Four  years  later  Tennessee  was  organized  as  a  terri- 
tory, and  in  1796  it  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  the  sixteenth 
State;  but  the  Federal  Government  retained  the  lands  ceded  by 
the  parent  State  until  1806.  By  the  act  of  April  18  of  that  year, 
however,  Congress  conveyed  to  Tennessee,  under  specified  condi- 
tions, so  much  of  those  lands  as  lay  north  and  east  of  a  certain  line, 
afterward  known  as  the  Congressional  reservation  line.  The 
reservation  included  all  of  West  Tennessee  and  a  large  area  in 
Middle  Tennessee ;  and  Tennessee  conceded  to  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment the  right  to  dispose  of  land  in  this  jurisdiction,  while 
the  lands  outside  the  reservation  were  ceded  to  the  State  on 
certain  conditions.  One  of  these  conditions  was  that  the  State 
should  appropriate  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  in  one 
tract  south  of  the  French  Broad  River  and  the  Holston  River  and 
west  of  the  Big  Pigeon  River  for  the  use  of  academies,  one  to  be 
established  by  the  Legislature  in  each  county.  The  academy  lands 
were  not  to  be  sold  for  less  than  two  dollars  an  acre  unless  they 
were  already  occupied.  In  such  a  case  the  occupants  were  allowed 
to  perfect  their  rights  at  one  dollar  an  acre.  This  proviso  greatly 
reduced  the  actual  value  of  the  cession.  It  was  afterward  found 
that  a  large  part  of  the  lands  was  occupied,  and  respect  for 
the  settlers'  claims  caused  what  appeared  to  be  a  munificent  edu- 
cational gift  to  yield  only  half  the  revenue  expected. 

This  and  other  reservations  made  at  the  same  time  were  the 
foundation  of  a  college  fund,  an  academy  fund,  and  a  common- 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  91 

school  fund,  which  were  apparently  intended  to  support  a  complete 
State  system  for  the  education  of  all  the  people.  But  the  lands 
which  were  thus  to  form  the  basis  of  such  a  system  were,  by  later 
legislation,  disposed  of  at  very  low  sums  and  the  proceeds  in- 
vested by  commissioners  appointed  for  the  purpose.  However,  a 
few  academies  were  early  established  and  soon  rapidly  increased. 
By  an  act  of  September  13,  1806,  provision  was  made  for  estab- 
lishing academies  in  the  several  counties  of  the  State  and  for 
appointing  trustees  for  them,  and  in  1817  an  act  was  passed 
which  apparently  contemplated  making  the  academy  part  of  a 
complete  system.  The  law  said: 

Whereas,  institutions  of  learning,  both  academies  and  colleges  should 
ever  be  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Legislature,  and  in  their  con- 
nection form  a  complete  system  of  education,  be  it  enacted  that  all 
the  academies  of  this  State  shall  be  considered  schools  preparatory  to 
the  introduction  of  students  into  the  colleges.  .  .  . 

It  appears  that  under  the  act  of  September  13,  1806,  and 
supplementary  acts,  thirty-eight  academies  were  chartered,  one 
for  each  county  organized  in  the  State  at  that  time.  Practically 
all  these  were  for  boys,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  "the  only 
public  institutions  of  the  time."  It  should  be  noted  also  that 
through  such  schools  "public  education  made  its  entry  into  the 
State."  It  appears,  however,  that  such  academies  as  were  organ- 
ized between  1806  and  1827  were  largely  private  enterprises  and 
depended  almost  entirely  on  private  patronage  for  their  support ; 
in  fact,  they  had  no  reliable  source  of  income  until  1838.  More- 
over, difficulties  arose  which  should  have  been  foreseen  from  the 
outset.  The  State  had  been  admitted  to  the  Union  ten  years 
before  the  cession  from  the  Federal  Government  and  before  it  had 
been  reached  by  the  admirable  Federal  survey.  Moreover,  a  large 
part  of  the  land  had  been  taken  up  by  immigrants  who  had  con- 
tended against  the  many  hardships  incident  to  frontier  life.  They 
had  won  homes  in  the  face  of  discouraging  odds,  and  neither  a 
high  sense  of  justice  nor  reverential  regard  for  the  regularity  of 


92  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  law  overcame  sentiment  or  sympathy  for  such  courageous 
pioneers.  From  the  first,  therefore,  efforts  to  comply  with  the  pro- 
visions of  the  land  grants  were  met  with  substantial  resistance. 
Occupation  rights  were  confirmed  upon  conditions  of  long  pay- 
ments, with  the  time  of  such  payments  frequently  extended.  The 
prices  of  the  lands  were  often  lowered  and  interest  was  now  and 
then  remitted,  with  the  result  that  the  lands  finally  passed  beyond 
the  control  of  the  State  and  of  the  schools.  Confusing  conditions 
arose  early  and  confronted  educational  effort  in  Tennessee  for 
many  years. 

In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1821  Governor  McMinn 
had  said: 

We  all  know  that  two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  south  of  the 
French  Broad  and  Holston  Rivers  at  the  price  of  $i  per  acre  was 
appropriated  to  the  establishment  of  and  support  of  colleges  and 
academies ;  but  in  what  manner  collections  on  the  sale  of  those  lands 
have  been  made  and  to  what  amount,  how  much  of  the  principal  or 
interest  has  been  voluntary  or  otherwise  paid,  or  how  much  still  re- 
mains due  or  to  become  due  is  scarcely  known  to  any  individual  within 
the  State,  and  perhaps  it  would  not  be  practicable  for  the  Legislature 
to  inform  themselves  satisfactorily  on  the  various  points  connected 
with  the  subjects  by  reports  drawn  from  any  department  of  the 
government. 

The  executive  had  advised  the  Legislature  to  take  immediate 
steps  to  acquire  full  and  accurate  information  on  the  whole  sub- 
ject. Nothing  was  done,  however,  and  the  matter  of  public  lands 
for  school  support  continued  confused  and  unsatisfactory  until 
1838.  In  that  year  an  act  was  passed  creating  the  Bank  of 
Tennessee  and  providing  an  annual  payment  of  $18,000  for 
academy  support  in  exchange  for  the  proceeds  of  the  academy 
lands,  which  became  part  of  the  bank's  capital.  In  1840  an  act 
was  passed  declaring  that  certain  academies  should  be  "known 
as  the  county  academies  of  the  State  " ;  and  the  Bank  of  Tennessee 
was  directed  to  pay  the  sum  of  $18,000  annually  for  the  support 
of  such  institutions,  the  sum  to  be  distributed  equally  to  each  of 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT 


93 


the  seventy-four  counties  of  the  State.  The  faith  of  the  State  was 
pledged  to  the  payment  of  this  appropriation,  and  from  that  time 
until  1 86 1  the  payments  were  regularly  made.  The  table  below 
exhibits  the  operation  of  this  fund  from  1840  to  1861 : 


YEAR 

APPROPRIATION 

DISBURSEMENT 

BALANCE 

1840  

$l8,OOO 

$7,920.00 

$28,080  oo 

1841  . 

l8,OOO 

16,320.00 

29,760  oo 

1842   

l8,OOO 

28,560  OO 

19  2OO  OO 

1847 

l8,OOO 

18,240  OO 

18  960  oo 

184.4  . 

l8,OOO 

20,360.00 

1  6,600  oo 

184  <;  . 

l8,OOO 

19,000.00 

15,600  oo 

1846  . 

l8,OOO 

II.Q7I.76 

21,668.64 

1847  . 

l8,OOO 

21,562.08 

18,106.56 

1848  

l8,OOO 

27,442  24 

12,664  32 

1840  . 

l8,OOO 

IQ,2I1.84 

1  1,  41:0.48 

1850  

l8,OOO 

l8.2O2.74 

11,247.74 

1851  

l8,OOO 

17,774.00 

1  1,872  7S 

1852  

l8,OOO 

I7.CQI.Q2 

I  2.77O  87 

18";-?  . 

l8,OOO 

I7,i;OQ.84 

12,860.99 

i8c.4  . 

l8,OOO 

16,129.20 

I4,77I.7O 

i8cc  . 

l8,OOO 

18,263.20 

14,  468.  CO 

1856  

l8,OOO 

14,87  1.4O 

I7.CQ-I.OQ 

i8c,7  . 

l8,OOO 

19,260.40 

l6,772.7Q 

1858  

l8,OOO 

21,148.08 

12,983.81 

i8qo  . 

l8,OOO 

l8,27C..Q7 

12,707.84 

1860  

l8,OOO 

i  c,,  867.10 

1  4,844.  ?4 

1861  

l8,OOO 

i6,<;  1  6.2? 

16,328.29 

This  form  of  support  served  for  many  years  as  an  educational 
stimulus  and  promoted  the  development  of  academies  in  Ten- 
nessee. The  number  of  such  institutions  naturally  increased 
rapidly.  Weeks  says: 

For  many  years  they  gave  direction  to  the  educational  tone  of  the 
State,  but  they  were  not  numerous  enough  to  meet  all  educational 
wants,  and  others  of  like  grade  and  character  were  established  by  pri- 
vate individuals,  by  social  orders  and  above  all  by  denominational 
interests.  They  continued  to  dominate  and  direct  the  educational  in- 
terests of  the  State  until  1873. 


94  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

A  large  educational  plan  was  mapped  out  in  Louisiana  by  an  act 
of  1805.  An  administrative  body  similar  to  that  of  New  York 
State,  and  known  as  the  "  University  of  New  Orleans,"  was  insti- 
tuted, the  regents  of  which  were  certain  civil  officers  and  others, 
to  be  elected  by  the  Legislature  for  life  tenure.  The  same  act  em- 
powered the  regents  to  establish  a  college  in  New  Orleans  and  one 
or  more  academies  in  each  county  of  the  territory  "  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  French  and  English  languages,  reading,  writing,  grammar, 
arithmetic,  and  geography."  It  further  provided  for  a  number  of 
academies  "  for  the  instruction  of  the  youth  of  the  female  sex  in 
the  English  and  French  languages,  and  in  such  branches  of  polite 
literature  and  such  liberal  arts  and  accomplishments  as  may  be 
suitable  to  the  age  and  sex  of  the  pupils."  For  the  more  extensive 
communication  of  useful  knowledge  provision  was  made  for  estab- 
lishing one  public  library  in  each  county.  The  funds  necessary 
to  support  this  educational  undertaking  were  to  be  raised  by 
lotteries.  The  lottery  provision  was  later  revoked,  however,  and 
direct  appropriations  were  substituted.  Significant  beginnings 
were  thus  made  for  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  1805 
with  reference  to  the  college  and  academies.  But  in  1821  the 
regents  of  the  University  of  Orleans  were  abolished,  and  five  years 
later  the  college  was  discontinued 

The  county  or  parish  academies  contemplated  in  the  original 
act  were  set  in  operation  in  at  least  a  dozen  counties  by  1811,  and 
the  Legislature  appropriated  to  each  of  them  the  sum  of  $2000  for 
buildings  and  equipment,  and  an  annual  maintenance  grant  of 
$500.  In  1819  the  annual  appropriation  was  raised  to  $600  and 
two  years  later  to  $800.  The  act  of  1821  also  provided  that  eight 
"beneficiary  students"  should  be  educated  at  each  academy  re- 
ceiving the  legislative  appropriation  and  should  be  furnished  with 
books  and  writing  materials.  In  1827  it  was  enacted  that  the  sum 
of  $2 .62  monthly  for  each  student  be  appropriated  for  the  support 
of  one  or  more  schools  in  each  county  or  parish,  and  in  1833  the 
Legislature  enacted  that  funds  appropriated  for  school  support 
should  be  distributed  on  the  basis  of  actual  school  attendance. 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  95 

Schools  with  an  enrollment  of  not  more  than  ten  children  received 
$4  a  month  for  each ;  those  which  had  an  enrollment  of  ten  to 
twenty  were  granted  $3  a  month  for  each ;  schools  with  an  enroll- 
ment of  more  than  twenty  would  receive  $2.50  a  month  for  each 
child,  "provided  the  whole  sum  paid  to  any  parish  should  not 
exceed  the  amount  allowed  it  by  law  for  that  purpose,"  which  at 
that  time  ranged  from  $800  to  $1350  for  each  county. 

On  this  basis  the  academy  system  in  Louisiana  continued  until 
the  passage  of  an  act  in  1847,  which  adopted  a  free  public-school 
system.  The  academy  movement  in  that  State  was  influential  in 
committing  the  public  to  the  free-school  principle  and  in  the  aboli- 
tion of  tuition  charges.  Moreover,  about  1833  the  custom  of  sub- 
sidizing "academies  proper"  for  a  term  of  years  had  begun. 
These  schools  were  regular  academies  with  self-perpetuating 
boards  of  trustees,  who  had  the  usual  powers  and  privileges  of 
educational  corporations.  The  bounty  from  the  State  was  given 
to  these  academies  on  the  condition  that  free  instruction  be  given 
the  poor  children. 

Montpelier  Academy  was  the  first  institution  of  this  kind  to 
receive  aid  from  the  State.  Among  the  others  which  received  aid 
before  1842  were  Academy  of  Claiborne,  Ouachita  Female  Acad- 
emy, West  Baton  Rouge  Academy,  Avoyelles  Academy,  Catahoula 
Academy,  Covington  Female  Seminary,  Spring  Creek  Academy, 
Caddo  Academy,  Franklinton  Academy,  Pine  Grove  Academy, 
Providence  Academy,  Johnson  Female  Seminary,  Greensburg  Fe- 
male Academy,  Springfield  Institute,  Minden  Female  Seminary, 
Poydras  Academy,  Plaquemines  Academy,  Union  Male  and  Fe- 
male Academy,  and  Vermilionville  Academy.  In  1842  a  bill  was 
enacted  to  retrench  expenses,  and  many  educational  appropriations 
were  discontinued ;  three  years  later  agitation  began  for  a  public- 
school  system  for  the  entire  State.  Up  to  that  date,  however,  the 
estimated  amount  which  the  State  appropriated  to  encourage 
county  or  parish  academies  was  more  than  $973,000,  and  the 
actual  amount  spent  in  subsidizing  academies  from  1833  to  1842 
was  more  than  $127,000.  Although  the  aid  of  the  State  was 


96  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

greatly  decreased  in  1842,  private  academies  continued  to  grow, 
and  by  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  they  were  found  in 
great  numbers  in  Louisiana. 

During  a  great  part  of  the  French  and  Spanish  regime,  in  what 
is  now  the  State  of  Mississippi,  few  schools  of  any  kind  were  set 
up  in  the  territory.  Before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
however,  private  tutors  were  employed  by  some  of  the  wealthy 
planters,  and  some  boys  were  sent  to  the  East  and  North  and  even 
to  Europe  for  their  education.  Around  Natchez  the  people 
seemed  especially  interested  in  education  and  in  1799  petitioned 
Congress  for  educational  aid.  About  the  same  time  or  a  little 
later  a  few  private  schools  were  opened,  and  others  would  prob- 
ably have  been  established  if  there  had  been  a  sufficient  number 
of  qualified  teachers  to  take  charge  of  them.  One  of  the  earliest 
schools  in  Mississippi  was  for  girls  and  was  established  in  Natchez 
in  1 80 1  by  the  Reverend  David  Ker,  who  had  had  a  successful 
academy  at  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  ten  years  before.  In 
1802  Jefferson  College  was  chartered  by  the  territorial  Legislature. 
This  was  the  first  educational  institution  to  receive  incorporation 
in  Mississippi,  but  lack  of  funds  delayed  its  opening  until  about 
1811.  Throughout  the  nineteenth  century,  however,  it  had  an  in- 
fluential career.  Washington  Academy  was  chartered  in  Washing- 
ton County  about  the  same  time  and  was  exempted  from  taxation 
and  given  lottery  privileges  to  raise  funds  for  its  support.  In  1819 
the  Legislature  chartered  the  Elizabeth  Female  Academy  (the 
first  girls'  school  to  be  incorporated  in  Mississippi  and  "  the  first 
fruits  of  Protestant  denominational  work  in  the  extreme  South  " ) , 
which  became  an  influential  Methodist  school.  Gradually  other 
private  academies  were  established  prior  to  1850. 

Many  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  what  is  now  Alabama  were  from 
the  older  sections  of  the  South  and  naturally  brought  with  them 
the  educational  ideals  and  customs  with  which  they  were  familiar. 
Private  academies  constituted  one  form  of  educational  practice 
with  which  they  were  acquainted,  and  these  institutions  began 
to  appear  as  early  as  1811.  The  first  educational  legislation  for 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  97 

the  region  now  known  as  Alabama  was  by  the  territorial  Legis- 
lature of  Mississippi,  in  1811,  when  Washington  Academy  was 
established,  but  this  institution  seems  to  have  had  a  very  slow 
growth.  But  other  private  schools  began  to  appear  rapidly,  and 
numerous  ones  were  incorporated  from  1812  through  the  ante- 
bellum period,  not  a  few  of  which  were  granted  lottery  privileges 
for  raising  funds.  Almost  every  Legislature  incorporated  one  or 
more  schools  of  this  type,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
a  large  number  of  academies  were  in  operation. 

Although  Arkansas  did  not  enter  the  Union  until  1836,  its 
earliest  inhabitants  were  not  lacking  in  facilities  for  education. 
The  sources  of  the  State's  population  had  been  Tennessee,  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi,  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  This 
population  was  more  or  less  homogeneous  and  naturally  held 
the  same  ideals  which  were  found  in  the  States  from  which 
it  had  come.  School-teachers  came  in  with  the  first  American 
settlements  and  were  numerous  before  the  territory  became  a 
State.  Some  of  the  best  known  of  the  early  teachers  were  Caleb 
Lindsey,  who  taught  in  Lawrence  County  as  early  as  1 8 1 6 ;  John 
Galloway,  who  had  a  school  in  Clark  County;  Moses  Easburn, 
who  taught  school  for  sixty  years,  beginning  in  1821 ;  and  Jesse 
Brown,  who  founded  the  Little  Rock  Academy  ("a  primary  and 
academical  school")  in  1825.  The  schools  taught  by  these  and 
other  teachers  went  under  the  general  name  of  academies, 
but  not  a  few  of  them  doubtless  gave  more  primary  than 
secondary  instruction.  Later  the  more  pretentious  ones  sought 
legislative  incorporation,  and  from  1836  to  1860  a  large  number 
of  such  institutions  were  chartered. 

Batesville  Academy,  in  Independence  County,  the  first  school  to 
receive  a  charter  in  Arkansas,  was  incorporated  in  1836.  The 
second  educational  institution  to  be  chartered  was  the  Fayette- 
ville  Female  Academy,  in  October  of  the  same  year.  From  that 
time  until  the  Civil  War  several  private  schools  and  academies 
were  incorporated  at  nearly  every  session  of  the  Legislature. 
The  acts  incorporating  the  schools  were  usually  of  the  same  type 


98  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

and  ordinarily  granted  the  same  privileges.  By  1850  there  were 
ninety  academies  reported  in  the  State,  and  during  the  next 
decade  this  number  was  doubled. 

_^  Florida  and  Texas  were  the  last  of  the  Southern  States  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Union.  They  were  admitted  in  1845  and  had  ^e 
experiences  of  their  older  sisters  to  guide  them  in  formulating 
educational  policies.  Something  of  educational  importance  had 
already  been  attempted  in  each,  however,  before  this  time.  The 
Florida  Education  Society,  formed  at  Tallahassee  in  1831,  was 
of  considerable  influence  in  collecting  and  diffusing  educational 
information  and  in  working  to  secure  the  establishment  of  such 
a  system  of  schools  as  would  be  suited  to  the  conditions  and  needs 
of  the  Territory.  By  1840  eighteen  or  twenty  private  academies 
had  been  formed,  each  with  trustees  numbering  from  five  to  nine. 
The  constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  in  1836  declared :  "It 
shall  be  the  duty  of  Congress,  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  per- 
mit, to  provide  by  law  a  general  system  of  education " ;  and  an 
act  of  that  Republic  three  years  later  granted  three  leagues  of  land 
to  each  county  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  an  academy.  More- 
over, the  constitution  adopted  when  Texas  came  into  the  Union 
was  very  adequate  in  its  provisions  for  educational  support.  Both 
of  these  States  showed  interest  in  schools  as  a  public  concern, 
though  Florida's  first  common-school  system  was  not  inaugurated 
until  1849,  and  it  was  not  until  1854  that  a  regular  system  of 
free  schools  was  provided  for  Texas.  However,  private  academies 
were  active,  though  not  very  numerous,  in  both  States  during  the 
ante-bellum  period. 

The  manual-labor  schools  and  the  military  schools  were  two 
interesting  variants  of  the  academy  in  the  South.  The  former 
received  a  great  impetus  through  the  industrial  work  of  the 
Pestalozzian-Fellenberg  movement,  which  attracted  attention  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Fellenberg  was  a 
companion  and  colaborer  of  Pestalozzi  and  established  an  insti- 
tution at  Hofwyl  in  Switzerland  in  1806,  in  which  he  combined 
literary  instruction  and  manual  labor.  The  students  pursued 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  99 

their  literary  work  in  the  mornings  and  farmed  in  the  afternoons. 
The  institution  continued  for  forty  years  and  attracted  wide  edu- 
cational attention.  Henry  Barnard  believed  it  had  a  wider  influ- 
ence than  any  other  institution  in  Europe  or  America  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  Through  its  influence  physical  exercises  be- 
gan to  claim  attention  in  the  United  States;  through  discussion 
the  public  mind  came  to  be  more  or  less  educated  to  an  apprecia- 
tion of  their  value,  and  there  was  an  agitation  for  giving  a  place 
in  the  schools  to  physical  training  and  gymnastics.  This  agitation 
proved  somewhat  disappointing,  though  it  resulted  in  a  widespread 
realization  of  a  need  for  attention  to  the  physical  conditions  of 
students.  Confidence  in  the  power  of  formal  physical  exercises 
later  weakened,  and  the  so-called  gymnastic  movement  finally  col- 
lapsed. Gradually,  however,  attention  was  called  to  such  sub- 
jects as  physiology  and  hygiene  as  aids  in  the  preservation  of 
health,  and  campaigns  began  for  introducing  them  into  the  schools. 
With  the  failure  of  the  formal  gymnastics  movement,  Fellen- 
berg's  idea  of  combining  manual  labor  and  intellectual  pursuits 
was  eagerly  seized  upon  as  the  solution  of  the  problem.  Advo- 
cates of  agricultural  and  mechanical  work  in  educational  insti- 
tutions appeared  early,  but  the  movement  did  not  gain  much  force 
until  near  the  close  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Interest  in  the  experiment  gradually  increased,  however,  and  for 
two  decades  or  more  manual-labor  schools  sprang  up  in  numerous 
places.  The  earliest  school  of  this  character  in  the  United  States 
seems  to  have  been  established  at  Lethe,  in  South  Carolina,  under 
the  will  of  Dr.  John  De  La  Howe,  which  was  made  in  1786. 
The  school  had  a  useful  career  from  1805  until  the  Civil  War, 
when  the  loss  of  endowment  forced  its  suspension.  The  manual- 
labor  feature  was  introduced  widely  in  theological  institutions, 
colleges,  and  academies  in  many  States,  and  by  1830  most  of 
the  States  had  one  or  more  institutions  in  which  manual  labor 
appeared  as  a  necessary  feature.  The  preservation  and  invigora- 
tion  of  health  were  no  doubt  powerful  motives  in  the  introduction 
of  manual  labor  in  many  literary  institutions,  but  the  supposed 


ioo  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

hygienic  value  probably  had  no  more  weight  in  promoting  its 
adoption  than  the  promising  pecuniary  advantage  of  the  scheme 
or  its  value  as  an  agency  for  recruiting  sectarian  ranks.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  denominational  controversies  were  intense 
during  this  period.  Wherever  practicable,  farms  and  shops  were 
provided  for  such  schools  adapted  on  the  manual-labor  plan,  and 
the  time  was  divided  between  manual  labor  and  study. 

The  theoretical  side  of  the  experiment  culminated  hi  the  early 
thirties,  by  which  time  the  movement  had  also  attained  consid- 
erable practical  proportions.  Reverend  Elias  Cornelius,  editor  of 
the  American  Quarterly  Register  and  secretary  of  the  American 
Education  Society,  lectured  and  wrote  on  the  subject,  and  the 
Fellenberg  system  continued  to  be  advocated  by  numerous  educa- 
tional leaders.  In  June,  1831,  an  enthusiastic  meeting  of  manual- 
labor  advocates  was  held  in  New  York,  with  the  result  that  the 
"Society  for  Promoting  Manual  Labor  in  Literary  Institutions" 
was  formed,  and  Theodore  D.  Weld  was  appointed  as  its  general 
agent.  Weld  had  been  connected  with  the  Oneida  Manual  Labor 
Institute  at  Whitesboro,  New  York,  which  was  one  of  the  insti- 
tutions made  conspicuous  by  its  manual-labor  feature  from  1827 
to  1834.  He  was  enthusiastic  in  advocating  the  new  system 
and  made  a  tour  of  many  States,  including  several  in  the  South, 
in  the  interest  of  the  plan.  In  1832  he  made  a  report  which  con- 
tained the  most  elaborate  presentation  of  the  movement  ever 
published,  setting  forth  the  claims  of  manual  labor  as  a  necessary 
part  of  a  sound  educational  system. 

The  report  advanced  many  ingenious  and  apparently  plausible 
arguments  in  favor  of  manual  labor.  It  claimed  that  the  system 
of  education  in  practice  at  that  time  jeopardized  the  health  of  the 
students,  tended  to  effeminate  the  mind,  was  perilous  to  morals, 
failed  to  stimulate  'effort,  destroyed  habits  of  industry,  and  was 
so  expensive  that  its  practical  results  were  noticeably  anti- 
democratic. Moreover,  the  manual-labor  feature  furnished  the 
kind  of  exercise  best  suited  to  students.  Military  exercises,  the 
report  argued,  were  proper  in  strictly  military  schools,  but  were 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  101 

not  adapted  to  any  other  and  would  not  be  "until  fighting  becomes 
the  appropriate  vocation  of  man  and  human  butchery  the  ordinary 
business  of  life."  Ordinary  gymnastic  exercises  were  not  suitable 
because  they  lacked  pecuniary  value  and  were  not  productive 
of  material  resources.  Manual  labor  would  correct  all  these  and 
numerous  other  educational  defects.  It  would  furnish  exercises 
"natural  to  man"  and  adapted  to  intellectual  interests,  produce 
happy  moral  effects,  and  equip  students  with  valuable  practical 
acquisitions.  In  addition  to  these  advantages  it  was  further 
claimed  that  the  new  plan  would  promote  habits  of  industry,  inde- 
pendence of  character  and  originality,  and  would  render  "perma- 
nent all  the  manlier  features  of  character."  It  would  also  afford 
opportunity  and  facilities  for  "acquiring  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature."  It  promised  to  reduce  the  expense  of  education,  to  in- 
crease wealth,  and  to  make  all  forms  of  honest  labor  democratic 
and  honorable  by  destroying  "these  absurd  distinctions  in  society" 
which  make  one's  occupation  the  standard  of  one's  work.  Finally, 
manual  labor  would  preserve  republican  institutions. 

The  "  Society  for  Promoting  Manual  Labor  in  Literary  Institu- 
tions" had  a  short  life  of  activity.  Weld  served  as  its  general 
agent  only  one  year,  and  his  successor  was  never  appointed. 
The  popularity  of  the  movement  which  this  organization  sought 
to  promote  was  likewise  short-lived,  though  in  the  thirties  and 
forties  several  institutions  introduced  the  manual-labor  feature. 

The  experiment  was  especially  popular  in  several  of  the  South- 
ern States.  The  Virginia  Baptist  Seminary,  from  which  Rich- 
mond College  grew,  made  manual  labor  compulsory  for  all  its 
students  for  a  short  time.  Emory  and  Henry,  founded  by  the 
Methodists  in  Virginia,  in  1838,  included  manual  labor  as  a  part 
of  its  required  program.  There  the  students  worked  on  the  farm 
for  two  hours  each  afternoon  and  received  from  two  to  five  cents 
an  hour  for  their  labor.  Later  the  compulsory  feature  was  aban- 
doned, though  the  institution  retained  manual  labor  for  a  few 
years  as  a  voluntary  feature.  Efforts  were  made  also,  but  without 
success,  to  introduce  the  new  plan  in  Hampden-Sidney  College. 


102  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

In  Donaldson  Academy,  at  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  a 
school  of  this  kind  was  begun  in  1834  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Presbyterians.  The  enterprise  was  put  in  charge  of  the  Reverend 
Simeon  Colton,  who,  for  a  number  of  years,  had  been  connected 
with  similar  work  at  Amherst,  Massachusetts.  At  one  time  the 
Fayetteville  school  had  one  hundred  and  fifty  students,  but  the 
manual-labor  feature  was  discarded  at  the  end  of  the  second 
year,  Colton  becoming  convinced  that  "close  habits  of  study 
and  manual  labor  were  incompatible."  About  1838  the  experi- 
ment was  tried  in  what  is  now  Davidson  College  (near  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina),  an  institution  under  the  control  of  the  Presby- 
terians, but  the  plan  collapsed  there  after  three  years'  trial. 
A  large  number  of  the  students  were  sons  of  farmers  and  had 
learned  to  work  in  the  fields  before  taking  up  their  collegiate 
studies ;  they  thought  it  quite  a  loss  of  time,  therefore,  to  plow  and 
to  cut  wood  while  at  college.  The  experiment  was  also  made  at 
Wake  Forest,  a  Baptist  institution  in  North  Carolina,  with  the 
same  or  similar  result. 

South  Carolina  saw  the  feature  tested  in  several  instances.  In 
the  various  reports  of  the  free-school  commissioners  of  that  State 
in  1839,  when  the  school  system  was  critically  examined,  some 
believed  that  manual  labor  was  the  solution  of  the  educational 
problem.  But  the  report  of  James  H.  Thornwell  and  the  Reverend 
Stephen  Elliott,  who  were  instructed  to  investigate  the  system  and 
report  to  the  Legislature,  discarded  manual-labor  schools  as 
"egregious  failures"  in  almost  every  instance  where  they  had 
been  tried.  The  plan  seems  to  have  been  tested,  however,  at 
Cokesbury  or  Bethel  by  the  Methodists,  at  Erskine  by  the  Associ- 
ated Reformed  Presbyterians,  at  Furman  by  the  Baptists,  and 
at  Pendleton,  South  Carolina,  by  "working  citizens,"  but  in  every 
case  with  the  usual  unsatisfactory  result. 

A  manual-labor  school  was  begun  at  Eatonton,  Georgia,  by  the 
Baptists  in  1832,  and  while  it  met  with  difficulties,  as  was  antici- 
pated, nevertheless  the  school  for  a  short  time  "  flourished  beyond 
the  expectations  of  the  most  sanguine."  Another  school  was  begun 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  103 

by  the  Baptists  in  1833  near  Greensboro,  in  Greene  County.  It 
owned  a  thousand  acres  of  land,  "large  and  convenient  buildings," 
and  "large  stocks  of  horses,  cattle,  and  hogs."  The  students 
"work  from  two  to  three  hours  a  day,  growing  cotton,  corn,  and 
potatoes,  and  are  happy.  .  .  .  The  Lord  has  prospered  the  school. 
In  the  first  year  a  large  number  of  the  students  professed  religion." 
In  1832  a  school  was  begun  "in  Mclntosh,"  the  Presbyterians 
began  one  near  Athens  in  1833,  and  the  Methodists  began  one 
near  Covington  in  1835,  which  seems  to  have  been  planned  on  a 
large  scale. 

In  Arkansas  the  trustees  of  the  township  schools,  established 
by  an  act  of  February,  1843,  were  authorized  to  establish  "a 
laboring  school  wherein  the  students  shall  be  required  to  labor  a 
portion  of  each  day."  The  experiment  was  tried  in  that  state  in 
Benton  Academy  (in  Saline  County),  which  was  chartered  in 
1842-1843,  and  in  Far  West  Seminary  (in  Washington  County), 
which  was  chartered  in  1844-1845.  Efforts  were  made  about 
1832  to  organize  a  manual-labor  school  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Tallahassee,  Florida,  but  the  undertaking  was  not  successful. 

Practically  all  the  institutions  which  tested  the  new  plan  soon 
abandoned  it,  however,  as  unsatisfactory  and  impracticable,  and 
the  movement  finally  collapsed.  Practical  difficulties  rather  than 
the  inherent  weaknesses  of  the  principles  underlying  the  plan 
cooled  enthusiasm  for  it.  It  should  be  noted  also  that  the  intro- 
duction of  athletics  in  educational  institutions  proved  a  wholesome 
substitute  for  the  physical  features  of  the  manual-labor  scheme. 
However,  the  manual-labor  idea  was  not  lost.  Instead,  it  ap- 
peared in  the  Morrill  Act  of  1862,  which  greatly  influenced 
industrial  education  in  the  United  States,  and  in  another  form 
in  the  manual-training  movement  of  recent  years,  which  is  no 
doubt  achieving  some  of  the  same  purposes  which  the  earlier 
movement  sought  to  attain. 

The  military  type  of  education — the  other  variant  of  the 
academy  movement — was  highly  favored  in  the  South,  partly  be- 
cause of  slavery  and  the  patrol  system,  partly  because  of  the 


104  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

influence  of  West  Point,  which  was  established  in  1802,  and  also 
because  of  a  natural  fondness  for  things  military.  Captain  Alden 
Partridge,  for  some  time  superintendent  of  the  United  States 
Military  Academy,  founded  the  American  Literary,  Scientific,  and 
Military  Academy  at  Norwich,  Vermont,  in  1819.  Twenty  years 
later  he  founded  the  Virginia  Literary,  Scientific,  and  Military 
Institute  at  Portsmouth,  Virginia.  In  that  same  year  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute  was  established  at  Lexington  and  followed 
closely  the  general  plan  of  the  school  at  West  Point.  Three 
years  later  the  South  Carolina  Military  Academy  was  founded. 
Like  the  school  in  Virginia,  the  South  Carolina  institution  had 
a  very  successful  career  during  the  ante-bellum  period,  and  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  had  numerous  graduates.  A  great 
many  of  them  became  officers  in  the  Confederate  Army,  filling 
every  grade  from  lieutenant  to  brigadier  general,  and  were  dis- 
tinguished for  their  zeal,  intelligence,  and  courage.  Although  the 
schools  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  were  the  most  influential 
of  all  such  institutions  set  up  in  the  South  before  the  Civil  War, 
military  education  was  very  popular  in  that  region,  and  academies 
with  the  military  feature  multiplied  before  1860. 

Certain  interesting  characteristics  of  the  academies  may  be 
noted  in  conclusion.  First  of  all  they  were  private  institutions, 
usually  owing  their  origin  to  private  enterprise  and  private 
benefaction.  They  were  under  the  management  and  control  of  self- 
perpetuating  boards  of  trustees,  who  were  among  the  most  public- 
spirited  and  progressive  citizens  of  the  community.  Such  schools 
had  no  outside  supervision  and  often  were  laws  unto  themselves. 
The  only  thing  they  sought  at  the  hands  of  the  Legislature  which 
gave  them  charters  was  corporate  powers — authority  to  own  and 
control  property,  to  receive  legacies  and  endowments,  to  employ 
and  dismiss  teachers,  and  sometimes  authority  was  given  to  grant 
degrees  or  to  confer  distinctions  and  diplomas.  Lottery  privileges 
were  occasionally  allowed;  in  most  cases  the  academies  were 
exempted  from  taxation,  and  not  infrequently  the  teachers  and 
pupils  were  relieved  from  military  and  road  duties.  This  type  of 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  105 

school  went  under  a  variety  of  names,  such  as  academy,  institute, 
seminary,  collegiate  institute,  and  sometimes  the  word  "college" 
was  employed.  Some  of  them  were  for  girls  exclusively,  some 
were  coeducational,  but  most  of  the  academies  were  intended 
primarily  for  boys  and  young  men. 

Tuition  charges  were  universal,  though  frequently  the  acts 
of  incorporation  required  indigent  children  to  be  taught  free  of 
charge  in  return  for  lottery  privileges  or  an  occasional  subsidy  or 
grant  from  the  State.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that 
although  the  academy  usually  served  those  who  were  able  to  pay 
for  its  educational  facilities,  it  nevertheless  served  the  community 
in  a  larger  sense.  Not  a  few  of  the  earlier  academies  were  de- 
nominational in  their  origin,  and  all  were  more  or  less  religious 
in  character ;  in  the  main,  however,  they  were  noticeably  free 
from  sectarianism  and  from  party  politics.  Some  were  so-called 
"fitting  schools"  and  prepared  for  college,  while  others  sought 
to  furnish  both  a  college  preparation  and  a  practical  education. 
The  academies  belonged  to  no  conscious  educational  system  or 
organization ;  they  were  independent,  more  or  less  isolated,  and 
frequently  transient.  But  considering  the  difficulties  in  their 
way  their  success  cannot  be  questioned.  They  appeared  at  a  time 
when  a  large  educational  domain  was  unoccupied  and  would  have 
remained  unfilled  but  for  them.  They  became  educational  centers 
wherever  they  developed,  lent  a  broadening  influence  to  those  who 
could  not  go  to  college,  and  provided  adequate  preparation  for 
those  looking  to  collegiate  training.  They  performed  much  of 
what  is  now  the  work  of  the  public  high  school  and  something  of 
what  is  now  done  in  college,  and  often  with  highly  satisfactory 
results. 

The  curriculum,  or  course  of  study,  found  in  the  academy  often 
showed  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  The  academy  was  intended  to 
afford  instruction  in  more  subject  matter  than  was  offered  in  the 
old  Latin  grammar  school  of  colonial  times;  moreover,  it  was 
designed  also  to  meet  the  constantly  increasing  demand  of  those 
who  did  not  seek  a  college  training  or  admission  into  the  learned 


io6  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

professions,  and  to  provide  for  those  who  wanted  a  higher  form 
of  instruction  than  could  be  furnished  by  the  so-called  common 
or  district  school,  which  slowly  appeared  in  most  of  the  Southern 
States  during  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
academy,  therefore,  took  over  from  the  Latin  grammar  school 
such  traditional  subjects  as  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics,  which 
had  been  favorite  college  preparatory  subjects.  Up  to  1800  these 
were  the  principal  subjects  required  for  admission  to  the  leading 
colleges  of  the  country,  and  during  the  first  sixty  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century  only  five  new  subjects  appeared  in  the  require- 
ments for  admission  to  college:  geography,  about  1807;  English 
grammar, -about  1819;  algebra,  about  1820;  geometry,  about 
1844;  and  ancient  history,  about  1847.  Moreover,  many  of  the 
earlier  academies  in  the  South  were  conducted  by  graduates  of 
Northern  and  Eastern  colleges  and  later  by  graduates  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina,  of  Virginia,  and  of  Georgia.  It  was 
natural,  therefore,  that  the  academy  should  seek  to  give  prepara- 
tion for  college. 

Since  the  academy  not  only  furnished  preparation  for  college 
but  sought  to  give  a  practical  training  also,  in  time  other  subjects 
appeared  in  its  curriculum.  Among  these  were  English  literature, 
certain  branches  of  natural  sciences,  history,  modern  foreign 
languages,  natural  and  moral  philosophy,  ethics,  psychology,  ge- 
ography, such  forms  of  applied  mathematics  as  surveying  and 
navigation,  English  composition,  oral  reading  and  declamation, 
and  commercial  subjects,  especially  bookkeeping.  One  academy 
gave  instruction  in  reading,  writing,  English  grammar,  geography, 
mathematics,  Latin,  and  Greek  in  1800 ;  in  another  similar  school 
in  1803  the  boys  were  taught  reading,  writing,  ciphering,  English 
grammar,  Nepos,  Caesar,  Sallust,  and  Virgil,  and  the  girls  in  the 
same  institution  were  taught  spelling,  reading,  writing,  ciphering, 
Dresden  work,  tambour  work  and  embroidery;  in  1805  the 
principal  of  an  academy  advertised  to  teach,  with  the  aid  of  one 
assistant,  "belles-lettres,  rhetoric,  ethics,  metaphysics,  Hebrew, 
French,  Italian,  algebra,  geometry,  trigonometry,  navigation, 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  107 

mensuration,  altimetry,  longimetry,  Latin,  and  Greek,  in  addition 
to  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  and  English  grammar." 
In  1811  in  another  academy  reading,  writing,  and  spelling  were 
required  subjects  for  the  girls,  and  Latin,  French,  music,  painting, 
and  needlework  were  elective;  and  for  the  boys  in  the  same 
school  there  was  a  Latin  course  which  included  grammar,  Corderii, 
Caesar,  Ovid,  Virgil,  Odes  of  Horace,  and  Cicero ;  a  Greek  course 
which  contained  grammar  and  the  Greek  Testament;  a  course 
in  mathematics  which  required  arithmetic,  Euclid,  and  surveying ; 
and  English  grammar,  parsing,  and  geography.  A  teacher  in 
North  Carolina  advertised  in  1818  that  the  "following  sciences" 
would  be  taught  in  her  "female  seminary":  "Orthography,  read- 
ing, writing,  arithmetic,  English  grammar,  needle-work,  drawing, 
painting,  embroidery,  geography  and  the  use  of  maps,  also  scan- 
ning poetry."1 

The  newer  subjects  were  open  to  considerable  experimentation, 
but  certain  ones  became  popular  for  good  reasons.  There  was 
much  practice,  for  example,  in  oral  reading  and  declamation  of 
masterpieces  of  prose  and  poetry  and  "examples  of  American 
eloquence."  Patriotic  selections,  in  which  the  reading  books  of 
the  time  abounded,  were  especial  favorites,  and  an  effort  was  made 
to  combine  interest  in  good  reading  with  moral  training  and  les- 
sons in  patriotism.  Such  a  subject  matter  and  such  a  method 
promised,  at  that  time,  to  develop  a  generous  enthusiasm  and  a 
wholesome  and  devoted  American  spirit  which  proved  to  be  power- 
ful influences  in  the  early  nineteenth  century. 

The  physical  equipment  of  the  academies  was  in  most  cases 
far  from  modern,  though  creditable  buildings  were  occasionally 
found.  As  a  rule  buildings  were  of  wood,  with  an  occasional 
brick  building  in  the  towns  and  more  populous  communities. 
Blackboards  were  rare,  and  modern  furniture  was  practically 
unknown.  Maps  were  now  and  then  reported  in  use,  and  oc- 
casionally schools  reported  the  use  of  globes,  "geometrical 

1  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  iv. 


io8  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

apparatus,"  "geographical  specimens  and  a  chemical  apparatus," 
"geographical  specimens  and  chemical  apparatus,"  "mathematical 
and  philosophical  apparatus."  The  teachers  were  often  well 
equipped  for  their  work,  though  few  if  any  of  the  earlier  ones 
were  trained  professionally.  Discipline  was  usually  rigid,  and 
instruction  was  remarkably  thorough  and  not  infrequently  ad- 
vanced for  the  time.  In  not  a  few  cases  students  in  some  acad- 
emies were  adequately  prepared  for  the  junior  year  in  the  leading 
colleges  of  the  country.  The  remuneration  received  by  the  teach- 
ers varied  greatly;  they  were  usually  paid  a  stated  salary 
agreed  upon  by  the  trustees  and  the  teachers,  or  they  received  a 
combination  of  salary  and  tuition  fees,  or  tuition  fees  only.  From 
the  evidence  at  hand  it  would  appear  that  many  of  them  were 
well  paid. 

Several  influences  of  the  academy  movement  are  apparent.  In 
the  first  place,  colleges  and  higher  institutions  began  to  receive 
hints  that  they  were  not  filling  the  popular  needs  of  the  time 
and  slowly  began  to  adjust  themselves.  Programs  of  study  were 
enlarged  by  adding  some  of  the  subjects  taught  in  the  secondary 
schools,  and  tradition  was  otherwise  broken,  though  the  effect 
was  not  always  immediate.  In  addition  to  the  reaction  on  the 
higher  institutions,  the  academy  movement  stimulated  the  train- 
ing of  teachers.  With  the  so-called  "revival"  period,  in  the 
thirties  and  forties,  the  need  for  elementary  teachers  came  to  be 
widely  and  intensively  felt,  and  the  academies  were  looked  to 
as  the  only  source  of  supply.  The  academy,  therefore,  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  normal  school.  With  the  rapid  growth  of  ele- 
mentary schools  in  the  South  just  before  the  war  the  argument 
was  frequently  urged  that  the  teachers  for  such  schools  should 
be  trained  in  the  academies.  In  a  few  cases  normal  instruction 
was  given  in  the  academies.  Closely  connected  with  the  need  for 
elementary  teachers  was  the  growth  of  secondary  and  higher  edu- 
cation of  women,  which  was  stimulated  by  the  academy.  Finally, 
many  of  the  academies  were  the  nuclei  from  which  numerous 
Southern  colleges  grew. 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  109 

About  1850  the  academy  began  to  decline  generally  on  account 
of  the  development  of  a  strong  feeling  in  favor  of  public  control 
and  public  support  of  educational  enterprises.  This  feeling  ap- 
peared first  in  elementary  education,  but  finally  reached  the  field 
of  secondary  education  also.  After  the  Civil  War,  when  public 
education  received  a  new  meaning  and  an  added  impetus  under 
the  powerful  influence  of  the  Peabody  Fund,  the  public  high 
school  in  the  South  began  to  develop  and  soon  became  the  dom- 
inating institution  of  secondary  education  not  only  for  that  region 
but  for  American  life  generally.  After  the  war,  however,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  public  high-school  movement  not  a  few  of  the 
academies  which  survived  the  educational  change  of  the  period 
became  preparatory  schools,  and  some  became  celebrated  as  high- 
class  "fitting"  schools  for  the  leading  colleges  of  the  country. 
This  change  of  purpose  in  those  which  did  survive  the  war  has 
had  a  tendency  to  obscure  the  important  fact  that  in  the  ante- 
bellum period  college  preparation  was  not  the  primary  purpose  of 
the  academy. 

Between  1860  and  1900  the  academies  began  to  be  replaced  by 
the  public  high  schools.  This  was  largely  an  experimental  period 
for  this  new  type  of  educational  institution,  and  difficulties  in  its 
way  had  to  be  removed.  Among  these  difficulties  was  that  of 
getting  the  people  to  accept  the  idea  that  the  support  of  secondary 
education  is  properly  a  function  of  the  State.  Largely  through 
certain  social  and  industrial  changes  this  idea  grew  in  strength, 
and  the  people  gradually  came  to  see  the  need  for  materially 
increasing  the  opportunities  for  high-school  education  for  the 
youth  of  the  State.  Since  1900  the  idea  of  high  schools  at  public 
expense  has  been  more  widely  accepted,  and  in  the  entire  South 
marked  progress  has  been  made  in  secondary  education.  The 
needs  of  this  part  of  the  public-school  system  of  the  South  and 
some  of  the  difficulties  yet  in  the  way  of  its  adequate  expansion 
and  development  will  be  considered  in  a  later  chapter. 


no  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Make  a  study  of  academies  in  your  State  with  reference  to 
(a)  purpose,  (6)  number,  (c)  curriculum  and  equipment,  (d)  influence, 
(e)  peculiar  characteristics,   (/)   public  aid,  denominational  interest, 
(g)  methods  of  teaching,  types  of  teachers,  quality  of  the  work  done, 
discipline,  and  salaries  of  teachers. 

2.  Account  for  the  decline  of  the  academy  movement  in  your  State. 

3.  Compare  the  curriculum  of  a  typical  ante-bellum  academy  with 
that  of  a  modern  public  high  school.   What  peculiar  advantages  were 
afforded  by  the  academy? 

4.  Make  a  study  of  public  high-school  facilities  now  provided  by 
your  State.   Are  public  high  schools  of  standard  grade  within  easy 
reach  of  all  the  children  of  your  county?    What  part  of  the  school 
population  of  your  State  is  attending  standard  high  schools  supported 
by  public  funds  ?   How  does  your  State  rank  with  other  States  in  this 
respect  ? 

5.  Compare  the  high-school  advantages  offered  the  children  of  the 
largest  town  or  city  in  your  State  with  those  offered  the  children  of  a 
typical  rural  county  of  the  same  State.    Account  for  the  inequalities  in 
(a)  buildings  and  equipment,   (6)   number  and  quality  of  teachers, 
(c)  courses  of  study,  (d)  length  of  term,  (e)  length  of  recitations, 
(/)  library  facilities,  (g)  literary  society  and  club  activities. 

6.  In  what  peculiar  ways  did  the  academies  influence  and  affect 
secondary  education  in  the  South  ? 

7.  What  lessons  have  the  old  academies  for  public  education  today  ? 
What  in  your  opinion  were  the  most  valuable  features  of  the  academy  ? 

8.  Explain  the  significance  of  the  manual-labor  school  movement. 
Account  for  its  failure.   Explain  the  rise  of  military  schools. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  ASBURY,  Journal,  3  vols, 
New  York,  1852.  BARNARD,  The  American  Journal  of  Education,  30  vols. 
Hartford,  1855-1881.  BOONE,  Education  in  the  United  States.  New  York, 
1893.  BOYNTON,  History  of  West  Point  and  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the 
United  States  Military  Academy.  New  York,  1863.  BROWN,  The  Making 
of  Our  Middle  Schools.  New  York,  1903.  Circulars  of  information,  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education:  BUSH,  History  of  Education  in  Florida 


THE  ACADEMY  MOVEMENT  in 

(Washington,  1899)  ;  CLARK,  History  of  Education  in  Alabama  (Wash- 
ington, 1889)  ;  FAY,  The  History  of  Education  in  Louisiana  (Washington, 
1898) ;  JONES,  Education  in  Georgia  (Washington,  1889) ;  LANE,  History  of 
Education  in  Texas  (Washington,  1903)  ;  MAYES,  History  of  Education  in 
Mississippi  (Washington,  1899)  ;  MERIWETHER,  History  of  Higher  Educa- 
tion in  South  Carolina  (Washington,  1899) ;  MERRIAM,  Higher  Education 
in  Tennessee  (Washington,  1893)  >  SHINN,  History  of  Education  in  Arkansas 
(Washington,  1900) ;  SMITH,  The  History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina 
(Washington,  1888).  COON,  North  Carolina  Schools  and  Academies,  1790- 
1840,  A  Documentary  History.  Raleigh,  1915.  CUMMINGS,  The  Early 
Schools  of  Methodism.  New  York,  1886.  Cyclopedia  of  Education  (edited 
by  Paul  Monroe),  Vol.  I.  New  York,  1911.  DAVIS,  Travels  of  Four  Years 
and  a  Half  in  the  United  States.  London,  1803.  DEXTER,  History  of 
Education  in  the  United  States.  New  York,  1904.  FAUST,  The  German 
Element  in  the  United  States,  2  vols.  Boston,  1909.  HANNA,  The  Scotch- 
Irish,  2  vols.  New  York,  1902.  HEATWOLE,  A  History  of  Education  in 
Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  INGLIS,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education. 
Boston,  1918.  KNIGHT,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina.  Bos- 
ton, 1916.  KNIGHT,  The  Academy  Movement  in  the  South.  Chapel  Hill, 
1920.  LONGSTREET,  Georgia  Scenes,  New  York,  1887.  MILLS,  Statistics  of 
South  Carolina.  Charleston,  1826.  RAPER,  The  Church  and  Private  Schools 
in  North  Carolina.  Greensboro,  1898.  Revisals  of  the  laws  of  the  vari- 
ous States.  SHERWOOD,  A  Gazetteer  of  Georgia.  Washington,  1837. 
STEINER,  Cokesbury  College,  the  First  Methodist  Institution  for  Higher 
Education.  Baltimore,  1895.  THOMAS,  The  History  of  the  South  Carolina 
Military  Academy.  Charleston,  1893.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School 
Education  in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School 
Education  in  Arkansas.  Washington,  1912.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School 
Education  in  Tennessee  (examined  in  manuscript).  WELD,  The  First  An- 
nual Report  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Manual  Labor  in  Literary  Institu- 
tions. New  York,  1833.  WHITE,  Historical  Collections  of  Georgia.  New 
York,  1855.  WHITE,  Statistics  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  Savannah,  1849. 
WHITNEY,  The  Land  Laws  of  Tennessee.  Chattanooga,  1891. 


CHAPTER  V 

BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  Before  the  War  for  Independence  the 
conception  of  education  as  an  obligation  and  function  of  the  govern- 
ment had  not  gained  great  strength  in  the  South.  But  the  need  for 
wider  educational  opportunity  was  beginning  to  be  recognized. 

2.  This  need  was  given  attention  by  Jefferson  and  other  leaders  of 
the  period,  and  with  the  formation  of  the  national  government  a  new 
social  consciousness  began  to  develop.    Many  of  the  States  early  made 
constitutional  provisions  for  schools. 

3.  In  the  South  the  democratic  theory  of  education  was  given  slight 
impetus  by  the  reform  work  of  Jefferson  and  his  coworkers,  and  this 
work  later  had  quite  a  wide  influence. 

4.  Jefferson's  early  work  for  public-school  education  in  Virginia  was 
not  immediately  successful,  but  it  was  not  without  influence.   His 
school  plans  of  1779  and  1796  were  significant,  and  the  school  law  of 
1818   became   the   legal   basis    of   popular   educational   practices    in 
Virginia  before  1860. 

5.  Conditions  in  South  Carolina  before  1840  were  not  altogether 
unlike  those  in  Virginia.    Sectional  jealousies  had  a  retarding  influence 
on  schools.   The  act  of  1811  formed  the  basis  of  public  educational 
work  in  South  Carolina  during  the  ante-bellum  period. 

6.  The  acts  of  1784  and  1822  were  important  legal  beginnings  of 
public-school  endeavor  in  Georgia,  and  the  school  plan  provided  by 
the  latter  act  continued  until  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century.   It  was  defective,  but  its  inauguration  marked  a  forward  step. 

7.  Public  education  in  Tennessee  was  closely  connected  with  the 
public  lands  of  that  State.   The  first  steps  toward  establishing  a  public- 
school  system  was  taken  in  1823.    The  school  law  was  defective,  but 
it  served  to  stimulate  educational  interest.    Slight  improvements  were 
made  in  1830,  and  the  early  plans  underwent  many  modifications  later. 

8.  North  Carolina  was  the  first  of  the  Southern  States  to  have  a 
constitutional  requirement  for  schools  and  the  first  of  all  the  States 

112 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  113 

to  organize  a  university,  but  it  was  the  last  of  the  older  Southern  States 
to  enact  a  public-school  law.  Local  conditions  delayed  action.  The 
law  of  1839  was  somewhat  advanced  and  became  the  basis  of  rather 
creditable  educational  effort  before  1860. 

9.  In  general,  early  educational  efforts  in  the  five  older  Southern 
States  were  feeble.  The  laws  were  permissive  and  otherwise  defective, 
and  the  school  plans  set  up  on  them  were  imperfect.  The  South  did 
not  early  commit  itself  fully  to  the  principle  of  equality  of  educational 
opportunity,  but  it  was  able  to  make  slightly  hopeful  beginnings  during 
the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Prior  to  the  War  for  Independence  the  conception  of  education 
as  a  function  of  the  State  had  gained  only  little  strength  in  the 
South.  Up  to  that  time  the  principal  educational  facilities  were 
furnished  by  charity  schools,  by  private  pay  schools  or  academies 
(which  were  discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter),  and  by  the 
apprenticeship  system.  And  as  few  as  were  the  opportunities  fur- 
nished by  these  agencies,  many  such  opportunities  decreased  just 
after  the  war,  and  education  reached  low  ebb.  This  was  the  condi- 
tion in  other  sections,  however,  as  well  as  in  the  South.  The 
growing  disputes  with  England,  their  culmination  in  a  war  which 
left  the  new  States  greatly  impoverished  and  depleted,  and  the 
huge  debt  incurred  by  the  war  left  little  time  for  attention  to  mat- 
ters of  education.  Moreover,  the  commercial  life  of  the  South  was 
deadened,  there  were  internal  troubles,  and  the  agricultural  condi- 
tions were  primitive  and  unpromising.  For  several  years  follow- 
ing the  close  of  the  war  political,  social,  and  economic  conditions 
were  critical  and  discouraging.  Life  in  the  South,  as  elsewhere 
in  the  new  nation,  was  full  of  intense  struggles,  dangers,  and  priva- 
tions. Forests  had  to  be  cut,  means  of  communication  had  to  be 
established,  and  the  first  laws  of  nature  had  to  be  obeyed.  It  was 
before  the  day  of  inventions  and  labor-saving  machinery,  and 
material  prosperity  was  naturally  slow  to  manifest  itself.  The 
population  was  sparse,  and  few  interests  appeared  on  which  com- 
munity cooperation  could  be  encouraged  and  promoted.  The  need 
of  education,  therefore,  appeared  relatively  small  as  a  community 


H4  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

interest ;  and  the  cause  of  education  had  difficulty  in  getting  the 
hearing  it  deserved.  Education  was  still  thought  of  as  a  private 
matter,  under  the  control  of  the  family  or  the  Church ;  and  as  a 
public  concern  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  was  not  highly  regarded 
generally. 

In  spite  of  these  facts,  however,  it  was  during  the  revolutionary 
period  and  the  so-called  "critical  period"  which  followed  that 
the  need  of  schools  began  to  be  felt  by  those  leaders  who  felt  the 
force  and  the  significance  of  the  changed  conditions.  Evidence 
of  interest  in  schools  as  a  public  necessity  was  not  widespread,  but 
it  was  significantly  reflected  during  the  time.  Nowhere  was  it 
more  striking,  perhaps,  than  in  the  work  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the 
great  apostle  of  democracy.  As  early  as  1779  he  introduced  into 
the  Legislature  of  Virginia  his  famous  "bin  for  a  more  general 
diffusion  of  knowledge,"  which  not  only  embodied  a  creditable  plan 
for  a  public-school  system  for  that  State  but  was  also  the  first 
effort  made  for  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  free  schools  in 
America.  The  first  section  of  that  bill  said : 

Whereas,  it  appeareth  that  however  certain  forms  of  government 
are  better  calculated  than  others  to  protect  individuals  in  the  free 
exercises  of  their  natural  rights,  and  are  at  the  same  time  themselves 
better  guarded  against  degeneracy,  yet  experience  hath  shown  that 
even  under  the  best  forms  those  intrusted  with  power  have,  in  time 
and  by  slow  operation,  perverted  it  into  tyranny;  and  it  is  believed 
that  the  most  effectual  means  of  preventing  this  would  be  to  illuminate, 
as  far  as  practicable,  the  minds  of  the  people  at  large,  and  more 
especially  to  give  them  knowledge  of  those  facts  which  history  exhib- 
iteth,  that,  possessed  thereby  of  the  experience  of  other  ages  and 
countries,  they  may  be  enabled  to  know  ambition  under  all  its  shapes, 
and  prompt  to  exert  their  natural  powers  to  defeat  its  purpose.  And, 
whereas,  it  is  generally  true  that  the  people  will  be  happiest  whose 
laws  are  best  and  are  best  administered,  and  that  laws  will  be  wisely 
formed  and  honestly  administered,  in  proportion  as  those  who  form 
and  administer  them  are  wise  and  honest ;  whence  it  becomes  expedient 
for  promoting  the  public  happiness,  that  those  persons  whom  nature 
has  endowed  with  genius  and  virtue  should  be  rendered  by  liberal 
education  worthy  to  receive  and  able  to  guard  the  sacred  deposit  of 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES          115 

the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  fellow-citizens,  and  that  they  should  be 
called  to  that  charge  without  regard  to  wealth,  birth,  or  other  accidental 
condition  or  circumstance ;  but  the  indigence  of  the  greater  number 
disabling  them  from  so  educating,  at  their  own  expense,  those  of  their 
children  whom  nature  hath  fitly  formed  and  disposed  to  become  use- 
ful instruments  for  the  public,  it  is  better  that  such  should  be  sought 
for  and  educated  at  the  common  expense  of  all,  than  that  the  happi- 
ness of  all  should  be  confined  to  the  weak  or  wicked. 

The  important  enactment  of  Congress,  adopted  July  13,  1787, 
for  the  government  of  the  United  States,  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River,  and  known  as  the  Northwest  Ordinance,  declared: 

Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  educa- 
tion shall  forever  be  encouraged. 

General  Francis  Marion,  the  "Swamp  Fox"  of  Revolutionary 
fame,  in  a  statement  made  just  before  his  death,  in  1795,  on  the 
need  for  popular  education  in  South  Carolina,  said : 

God  preserve  our  Legislature  from  penny  wit  and  pound  foolish- 
ness. What !  Keep  a  nation  in  ignorance  rather  than  vote  a  little  of 
their  own  money  for  education !  .  .  .  We  fought  for  self-government ; 
and  God  hath  pleased  to  give  us  one  better  calculated,  perhaps,  to 
protect  our  rights  and  foster  our  virtues  and  call  forth  our  energies 
and  advance  our  condition  nearer  to  perfection  and  happiness,  than 
any  government  that  ever  was  framed  under  the  sun.  But  what 
signifies  this  government,  divine  as  it  is,  if  it  be  not  known  and  prized 
as  it  deserves?  This  is  best  done  by  free  schools. 

Men  will  always  fight  for  their  government  according  to  their 
sense  of  its  value.  To  value  it  aright  they  must  understand  it.  This 
they  cannot  do  without  education.  And,  as  a  large  portion  of  the 
children  are  poor,  and  can  never  attain  that  inestimable  blessing  with- 
out the  aid  of  government,  it  is  plainly  the  duty  of  government  to 
bestow  it  freely  upon  them.  The  more  perfect  the  government,  the 
greater  the  duty  to  make  it  well  known.  Selfish  and  oppressive  govern- 
ments must  "hate  the  light  and  fear  to  come  to  it,  because  their 
deeds  are  evil."  But  a  fair  and  cheap  government,  like  our  republic, 
"longs  for  the  light  and  rejoices  to  come  to  the  light,  that  it  may  be 


n6  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

manifested  to  come  from  God,"  and  well  worthy  of  the  vigilance  and 
valor  that  an  enlightened  nation  can  rally  for  its  defense.  A  good  gov- 
ernment can  hardly  ever  be  half  anxious  enough  to  give  its  citizens  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  its  own  excellencies.  For,  as  some  of  the  most 
valuable  truths,  for  lack  of  promulgation,  have  been  lost,  so  the  best 
government  on  earth,  if  not  widely  known  and  prized,  may  be 
subverted. 

The  Constitution  adopted  in  1789  for  the  government  of  the 
new  nation  contained  no  mention  of  education.  But  in  his  first 
message  to  Congress,  January  8,  1790,  President  Washington 
called  several  interesting  objects  to  the  attention  of  that  body. 
Among  these  were  "uniformity  in  the  currency,  weights,  and 
measures,"  the  post  office,  and  post  roads,  in  all  of  which  subjects 
he  took  a  deep  interest.  But  another  subject  lay  equally  close  to 
his  heart,  and  he  said : 

Nor  am  I  less  persuaded,  that  you  will  agree  with  me  in  opinion, 
that  there  is  nothing  which  can  better  deserve  your  patronage  than 
the  promotion  of  science  and  literature.  Knowledge  is  in  every  coun- 
try the  surest  basis  of  public  happiness.  In  one,  in  which  the  measures 
of  government  receive  their  impression  so  immediately  from  the 
sense  of  the  community,  as  in  ours,  it  is  proportionably  essential.  To 
the  security  of  a  free  constitution  it  contributes  in  various  ways ;  by 
convincing  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  public  administration 
that  every  valuable  end  of  government  is  best  answered  by  the  en- 
lightened confidence  of  the  people,  and  by  teaching  the  people  them- 
selves to  know  and  to  value  their  own  rights ;  to  discern  and  provide 
against  invasions  of  them ;  to  distinguish  between  oppression  and  the 
necessary  exercise  of  lawful  authority,  between  burdens  proceeding 
from  a  disregard  to  their  convenience  and  those  resulting  from  the 
inevitable  exigencies  of  society;  to  discriminate  the  spirit  of  liberty 
from  that  of  licentiousness,  cherishing  the  first  and  avoiding  the  last, 
and  uniting  a  speedy  but  temperate  vigilance  against  encroachments, 
with  an  inviolable  respect  to  the  laws. 

These  selections  reflect  an  interesting  theory  of  public  education 
as  held  by  some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  South,  and,  indeed,  of 
the  entire  country,  following  independence  from  England.  A  new 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  117 

era  had  dawned  for  America.  Public-spirited  leaders  were  now  be- 
ginning to  look  beyond  local  narrowness  and  jealousies,  which 
had  widely  prevailed,  and  to  consider  the  larger  interests  of  the 
whole  people.  Lack  of  educational  facilities  for  the  masses  began 
to  make  keen  and  persistent  appeal  to  such  men.  Public  utter- 
ances reflected  the  growing  belief  that  education  should  be  suitably 
and  adequately  provided  so  that  the  people  could  properly  appreci- 
ate and  thoroughly  understand  and  defend  their  natural,  civil,  and 
political  rights.  Schools  and  the  means  of  education  were  re- 
garded as  the  mortal  enemy  to  arbitrary  and  despotic  government ; 
they  were  the  surest  basis  of  liberty  and  equality.  Moreover,  they 
would  prevent  youth  from  acquiring  "unreasonable  predilections 
in  favor  of  alien  institutions  and  manners  "  and  prejudices  against 
those  of  their  own  country  "  and  against  the  condition  of  society, 
of  which  their  interest  and  duty  require  them  to  become  members." 
Again,  the  education  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  land  was  neces- 
sary to  produce  in  them  an  enthusiastic  attachment  to  their  own 
country  and  to  insure  a  jealous  support  of  its  constitution,  its 
laws,  and  its  government.  These  ideals,  it  was  urged,  should  be 
infused  in  every  citizen  from  his  infancy.  In  this  respect  the  edu- 
cational problem  then  was  not  unlike  the  most  important  task  for 
education  now,  and  in  the  experience  of  that  period  are  lessons  for 
education  today. 

With  independence  and  the  formation  of  the  national  govern- 
ment a  new  social  consciousness  began  to  develop.  There  appeared 
a  general  quickening  of  a  new  spirit  which  began  to  make  itself 
felt  in  many  ways.  A  great  advance  was  made  in  denominational 
activity  and  in  educational  enterprises  of  many  kinds ;  numerous 
foreign  and  home-mission  boards  were  organized;  theological 
institutions  soon  began  to  appear ;  new  educational  institutions  of 
secondary  and  collegiate  grade  were  established,  and  more  ade- 
quate provisions  were  made  for  older  ones ;  and  organizations 
for  promoting  moral  reform  and  social  uplift  were  formed.  These 
and  other  movements  attracted  attention  to  a  large  degree.  A 
new  ideal  of  education  in  a  broad  sense  was  in  the  making. 


u8  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

This  new  theory  of  education  began  early  and  grew  steadily,  as 
shown  by  the  social  movements  of  the  half  century  from  1775  to 
1825.  But  its  development  in  the  South  was  slow.  The  first  sig- 
nificant stage  in  its  growth,  however,  may  be  noticed  in  early 
constitutional  provisions  for  schools  and  the  means  of  education. 
As  early  as  May,  1776,  the  Continental  Congress  had  recom- 
mended to  the  various  States  the  adoption  of  "  such  government  as 
shall,  in  the  opinion  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  best 
conduce  to  the  happiness  and  safety  of  their  constituents  in 
particular  and  America  in  general."  Following  this  recommenda- 
tion, all  the  States  except  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  which 
regarded  their  colonial  charters  adequate  for  the  changed  condi- 
tions, framed  and  adopted  constitutions.  Some  of  them  were 
naturally  imperfect,  and  revisions  or  amendments  were  soon  made. 
All  the  States,  however,  did  not  make  provisions  for  education  in 
their  original  constitutions ;  and  the  lawmaking  bodies  in  many  of 
those  States  which  did  make  such  provisions  did  not  immediately 
and  rigidly  observe  the  constitutional  mandates.1 

Of  the  five  Southern  States  in  the  Union  before  1800  North 
Carolina,  whose  original  constitution  was  adopted  in  1776,  and 
Georgia,  whose  first  constitution  was  adopted  in  1777,  made  con- 
stitutional provisions  for  education.  The  constitution  of  Virginia, 
originally  adopted  in  1776,  was  silent  on  the  subject  of  education 
and  remained  silent  until  1851.  The  original  constitution  of  South 
Carolina  was  adopted  in  1776,  another  was  formed  two  years  later, 
and  a  third  in  1 790 ;  several  revisions  or  amendments  were  later 
made,  but  in  none  of  these  was  anything  said  about  education. 
The  constitution  of  1865,  framed  in  accordance  with  the  presi- 
dential plan  of  reconstruction,  also  remained  silent  on  the  subject. 
The  first  constitutional  provision  for  education  in  that  State  did 
not  appear,  therefore,  until  1868.  Tennessee,  admitted  to  the 

1  Those  which  did  incorporate  educational  provisions  before  1800  were 
Pennsylvania,  1776  ;  North  Carolina,  1776  ;  Georgia,  1777  ;  Vermont,  1777  ; 
Massachusetts,  1780;  New  Hampshire,  1784;  Vermont,  1787;  Pennsylvania, 
1790 ;  Delaware,  1792  ;  and  Georgia,  1798. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  119 

Union  in  1796,  made  no  constitutional  provision  for  education, 
and  none  appeared  until  1835.  All  the  other  Southern  States,  ex- 
cept Louisiana,  made  constitutional  provisions  for  education  on 
admission  to  the  Union  as  follows:  Mississippi,  in  1817;  Ala- 
bama, in  1819 ;  Arkansas,  in  1836 ;  Florida,  in  1845* ;  and  Texas, 
in  1845.  Louisiana  came  into  the  Union  in  1812,  but  its  constitu- 
tion contained  no  educational  provision  until  1845.  The  Territory 
of  Orleans,  however,  had  passed  some  educational  legislation  as 
early  as  1805 ;  and  the  constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  in 
1836,  had  made  provisions  for  schools. 

North  Carolina  was  the  first  of  the  Southern  group  and  the 
second  of  all  the  United  States  to  make  constitutional  provision 
for  schools.  This  provision,  which  was  adopted  December  18, 
1776,  was  almost  a  literal  copy  of  a  section  of  the  constitution  of 
Pennsylvania,  which  had  been  adopted  September  28  of  the  same 
year.  That  section,  which  was  continued  in  the  revised  constitu- 
tion of  1835,  said: 

That  a  school  or  schools  shall  be  established  by  the  Legislature,  for 
the  convenient  instruction  of  youth,  with  such  salaries  to  the  masters, 
paid  by  the  public,  as  may  enable  them  to  instruct  at  low  prices ;  and 
all  useful  learning  shall  be  duly  encouraged  and  promoted  in  one  or 
more  universities. 

Georgia  was  the  second  Southern  State  and  the  third  of  all  the 
States  to  incorporate  an  educational  provision  in  its  original  con- 
stitution, which  was  adopted  February  5,  1777.  The  provision 
said:  "Schools  shall  be  erected  in  each  county,  and  supported 
at  the  general  expense  of  the  State,  as  the  Legislature  shall  here- 
after point  out."  Twelve  years  later  Georgia  adopted  another 
constitution,  but  it  contained  no  reference  to  education.  A  third 
constitution  was  adopted  in  1 798  and  provided : 

The  arts  and  sciences  shall  be  promoted,  in  one  or  more  seminaries 
of  learning ;  and  the  Legislature  shall,  as  soon  as  conveniently  may  be, 

1The  constitution  of  Florida  was  framed  in  1838,  but  the  State  was  not 
admitted  to  the  Union  until  1845. 


120  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

give  such  further  donations  and  privileges  to  those  already  established 
as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  objects  of  their  institution ;  and  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  general  assembly,  at  their  next  session,  to  pro- 
vide effectual  measures  for  the  improvement  and  permanent  security 
of  the  funds  and  endowments  of  such  institutions. 

These  were  all  the  educational  provisions  incorporated  in  the 
constitutions  of  the  Southern  States  before  1817,  when  Mississippi 
entered  the  Union.  In  December  of  that  year  a  constitution  was 
adopted  for  that  State  which  contained  the  educational  provision 
of  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  this  was  continued  in  the 
constitution  of  1832  and  of  1865  of  that  State.  Alabama  followed, 
December  14,  1819,  with  the  following  constitutional  provision: 

Schools,  and  the  means  of  education,  shall  forever  be  encouraged  in 
this  State :  and  the  General  Assembly  shall  take  measures  to  preserve, 
from  unnecessary  waste  or  damage,  such  lands  as  are  or  hereafter  may 
be,  granted  by  the  United  States  for  the  use  of  schools  within  each 
township  in  this  State,  and  apply  the  funds,  which  may  be  raised  from 
such  lands,  in  strict  conformity  to  the  object  of  such  grant.  The 
General  Assembly  shall  take  like  measures  for  the  improvement  of 
such  lands  as  have  been  or  may  be  hereafter  granted  by  the  United 
States  to  this  State,  for  the  support  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  and  the 
moneys  which  may  be  raised  from  such  lands,  by  rent,  lease  or  sale, 
or  from  any  quarter,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  shall  be  and  remain  a 
fund  for  the  exclusive  support  of  a  state  university,  for  the  promotion 
of  the  arts,  literature  and  the  sciences ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
General  Assembly,  as  early  as  may  be,  to  provide  effectual  means  for 
the  improvement  and  permanent  security  of  the  funds  and  the  endow- 
ments of  such  institution. 

The  constitution  of  Tennessee,  which  had  come  into  the  Union 
in  1796,  contained  no  educational  provision  until  March,  1835, 
when  the  following  became  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of 
that  State : x 

JIt  must  not  be  inferred  that  no  legislative  action  in  behalf  of  education 
was  taken  in  those  States  whose  constitutions  were  lacking  in  educational 
provisions.  Not  a  few  States  passed  educational  laws  of  one  kind  or  an- 
other before  the  constitutions  spoke  on  the  subject  of  schools. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  121 

Knowledge,  learning,  and  virtue  being  essential  to  the  preservation 
of  republican  institutions,  and  the  diffusion  of  the  opportunities  and 
advantages  of  education  throughout  the  different  portions  of  the  State 
being  highly  conducive  to  the  promotion  of  this  end,  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  all  future  periods  of  this  government, 
to  cherish  literature  and  science.  And  the  fund  called  "the  common 
school  fund,"  and  all  the  lands  and  proceeds  thereof,  dividends,  stocks, 
and  other  property  of  every  description  whatever,  heretofore  by  law 
appropriated  by  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State  for  the  uses  of 
common  schools,  and  all  such  as  shall  hereafter  be  appropriated,  shall 
remain  a  perpetual  fund,  the  principal  of  which  shall  never  be  dimin- 
ished by  legislative  appropriation,  and  the  interest  thereof  shall  be 
inviolably  appropriated  to  the  support  and  encouragement  of  common 
schools  throughout  the  State,  and  for  the  equal  benefit  of  all  the  people 
thereof ;  and  no  law  shall  be  made  authorizing  said  fund,  or  any  part 
thereof  to  be  diverted  to  any  other  use  than  the  support  and  en- 
couragement of  common  schools ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
General  Assembly  to  appoint  a  board  of  commissioners,  for  such  term 
of  time  as  they  may  think  proper  who  shall  have  the  general  superin- 
tendence of  said  fund,  and  who  shall  make  a  report  of  the  conditions 
of  the  same,  from  time  to  time,  under  such  rules,  regulations,  and 
restrictions  as  may  be  required  by  law :  Provided,  That  if  at  any 
time  hereafter  a  division  of  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  or 
any  of  the  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  such  lands,  shall  be  made 
among  the  individual  States,  the  part  of  such  lands  or  money  coming 
to  this  State  shall  be  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  education  and  internal 
improvement,  and  shall  never  be  applied  to  any  other  purpose. 

The  above  provisions  shall  not  be  construed  to  prevent  the  Legis- 
lature from  carrying  into  effect  any  laws  that  have  been  passed  in 
favor  of  the  colleges,  academies,  or  from  authorizing  heirs  or  distrib- 
utees to  receive  and  enjoy  escheated  property,  under  such  rules  and 
regulations  as  from  time  to  time  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

After  1835,  which  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  period  in  edu- 
cational growth  in  this  country,  education  came  to  be  more  fully 
and  definitely  dealt  with  in  the  constitutions  of  the  various 
States.  This  change,  which  reflects  itself  in  the  constitutional 
and  legislative  provisions  for  education,  was  produced  by  the  rapid 
growth  of  democracy.  Before  1835  educational  legislation  was 


122  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

couched  in  general  and  very  often  in  vague  language ;  afterwards, 
however,  specific  and  definite  terms  generally  characterized  consti- 
tutional and  legislative  enactments  not  only  on  education  but 
on  other  subjectslis  well.  A  remarkable  interest  in  education  be- 
gan to  appear  in  the  movement  known  as  the  Ajnerican  educa- 
tibnal  renaissance^  Those  States  which,  entered  the  Union  after 
1835,  therefore,  were  dou^tle^s_guided_by  the  educational  ex- 
perience ot  their  older  sisters~and  were  thus  greatly  influenced 
in  their  formulation  of  educational  legislation.  Those  of  the 
Southern  Stateswhich  in  ronstit.ntinnal  and  legislative  action 
showed  a  response  to  this  influence  will  be  treated  in  another  chap- 
ter. In  the  main  their  tendency  was  toward  more  specific  and 
adequate  educational  provisions  than  appeared  in  some  of  the 
older  States. 

The  awakening  which  began  in  the  thirties  owed  its  origin  to 
the  ideal  of  democracy.  In  the  South  the  concept  of  educational 
endeavor  as  a  governmental  function  hadits_beginning  in  the 
remal^Werefpnnprog^airPwErch  JefTersonTand  his  coworkers 
launched  and  supported  during  and  immediately  following  the 
Revolution.  Although  at  first  a  movement  of  a  local  character, 
certain  phases  of  the  work  of  these  Virginia  reformers  were  far- 
reaching  in  their  influences.  Their  program,  which  was  led  by 
Jefferson,  consisted  of  a  series  of  measures  which  formed  a  system 
on  which  a  true  democratic  form  of  government  could  be  estab- 
lished. Chief  among  these  measures  was  the  divorce  of  the 
Church  and  the  State  and  the  establishment  of  the  rights  of 
conscience,  the  abolition  of  entail  and  the  law  of  primogeniture, 
the  revision  of  the  laws,  and  the  celebrated  movement  for  a 
school  system. 

The  influence  of  the  Church  in  Virginia  was  briefly  noted  in 
Chapter  II.  It  remains  to  be  noted  here  that  the  Establishment 
was  finally  weakened  by  a  series  of  legislative  enactments  dealing 
with  the  religious  question  and  by  its  attempt  to  controvert  an 
evangelical  movement  which  had  spread  from  England  and  had 
awakened  a  popular  emotion  and  reached  a  class  of  people  hitherto 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  123 

not  influenced  by  the  Establishment.  These  enactments  began 
with  the  bill  of  rights,  which  contained  a  "broad  declaration 
of  religious  liberty"  and  pronounced  "a  decree  of  absolute  divorce 
between  Church  and  State,"1  and  were  demanded  by  the  petitions 
of  hundreds  of  dissenters  who  had  grown  impatient  at  the  legal 
restrictions  placed  on  them.  By  the  repeal  of  the  law  which  im- 
posed penalties  for  nonconformity  and  for  failure  to  support  the 
Establishment,  which  was  achieved  after  twenty-five  days  of 
heated  debate  in  1776;  by  gradual  concessions  made  to  the 
liberal  party  up  to  1786,  when  the  famous  act  establishing  religious 
freedom  was  passed ;  by  the  defeat  of  the  movement  for  general 
assessment  and  the  repeal,  in  1787,  of  the  incorporation  act, 
thus  making  all  churches  "independent  of  the  civil  power,  as  to 
doctrine,  discipline,  and  means  of  support " ;  and  finally  by  set- 
tling, in  1802,  the  question  of  the  ownership  of  the  glebes  and 
other  church  property,  the  last  vestige  of  the  Established  Church 
in  Virginia  was  destroyed.  Persecution  for  religious  causes  ceased 
and  religious  qualifications  for  civil  office  were  abandoned. 

Another  blow  which  Jefferson  and  his  reforming  party  struck 
was  aimed  at  the  system  of  entail  and  is  said  to  have  been  an 
avowed  blow  at  the  aristocracy.  By  abolishing  entail,  lands  and 
slaves  were  to  be  held  in  fee  simple  and  could  be  sold  for  debt ; 
and  the  accumulation  and  perpetuation  of  enormous  wealth  in  a 
few  families,  who  had  monopolized  the  civil  honors  of  the  colony, 
were  prevented.  Thus  the  whole  system  of  laws  and  usages  which 
were  designed  to  prevent  a  distribution  of  wealth  crashed  almost 
in  a  day.  The  abolition  of  primogeniture  and  the  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  inheritances  followed  as  a  twin  measure  and  made 
possible  the  equal  distribution  of  property  among  heirs,  thus  re- 
moving feudalistic  and  dangerous  distinctions. 

A  complete  revision  of  the  laws,  including  British  usages  and 
colonial  enactments  from  1619,  was  also  a  part  of  the  reform 
program.  "The  laws  of  Virginia  were  a  chaos  of  obsolete  and 

iEckenrode,  Separation  of  Church  and  State  in  Virginia. 


124  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

antiquated  enactments,  good  for  lawyers,  bad  for  clients."  The 
revision  was  finally  completed  in  1779,  and  the  revised  measures 
were  presented  in  more  than  one  hundred  clear  and  definite  bills. 
These  were  taken  up  separately  and  acted  upon  one  by  one,  and 
during  the  next  six  or  seven  years  were  enacted  into  law. 

Jefferson's  great  faith  in  the  mass  of  the  people  made  him  an 
untiring  supporter  of  popular  education.  He  believed  that  the 
people  were  capable  of  self-government,  that  they  meant  well,  and 
that  they  would  act  well  whenever  they  understood.  He  was 
eager  to  enable  them  to  understand  by  education  and  training 
and  accordingly  introduced  his  famous  school  bill  into  the  Vir- 
ginia Legislature  in  1779. 

The  plan  proposed  was  based  on  Jefferson's  political  theory  of 
local  self-government.  It  provided  for  a  division  of  the  counties 
into  "hundreds,"  of  "such  convenient  size  that  all  the  children 
within  each  hundred  may  daily  attend  the  school  to  be  estab- 
lished therein."  The  electors  of  each  such  division  were  to  se- 
lect the  site  for  the  schoolhouse,  which  was  to  be  built  and  kept 
in  repair  by  the  three  county  aldermen,  who  were  to  be  chosen 
by  the  qualified  electors  of  the  county.  At  each  school  "all  the 
free  children,  male  and  female,  resident  within  the  respective 
hundred,  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  tuition  gratis,  for  the  term 
of  three  years,  and  as  much  longer,  at  their  private  expense,  as 
their  parents,  guardians,  or  friends,  shall  think  proper."  The 
subjects  of  reading,  writing,  and  common  arithmetic  were  to  be 
taught  from  books  which  would  at  the  same  time  acquaint  the 
children  with  Greek,  Roman,  English,  and  American  history.  An 
overseer  "eminent  for  his  learning,  integrity,  and  fidelity  to  the 
commonwealth"  was  to  be  appointed  annually  by  the  county 
aldermen  to  superintend  "every  ten  of  these  schools."  His  duties 
were  to  appoint  teachers,  to  examine  the  pupils,  and  to  visit  and 
have  general  control  over  the  schools.  The  salary  of  the  teacher 
and  all  other  expenses  connected  with  each  school  were  to  be 
provided  by  the  hundred  "in  such  manner  as  other  county  ex- 
penses are  by  law  directed  to  be  provided." 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  125 

In  order  "that  grammar  schools  may  be  rendered  convenient 
to  the  youth  of  every  part  of  the  commonwealth"  the  various 
counties  were  to  be  districted,  two  or  more  counties  forming  one 
district.  In  each  district  a  grammar  school  was  to  be  established 
and  equipped  with  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  a  brick  or  stone 
house,  with  necessary  offices,  "a  room  for  the  school,  a  hall  to 
dine  in,  four  rooms  for  a  master  and  usher,  and  ten  or  twelve 
lodging  rooms  for  the  scholars."  The  expense  of  establishing 
and  equipping  these  schools  was  to  be  paid  out  of  the  public 
treasury.  Latin  and  Greek,  English  grammar,  geography,  and  the 
''higher  parts  of  numerical  arithmetic"  were  to  constitute  the  cur- 
riculum. A  visitor  from  each  county  composing  the  district  was 
to  be  appointed  by  the  overseers,  with  powers  over  the  grammar 
schools  similar  to  the  powers  of  the  overseers  over  the  primary 
schools,  and,  in  addition,  "  to  settle  the  price  of  tuition  to  be  paid 
by  the  scholars."  Every  overseer  of  the  elementary  schools  was 
to  select  from  among  the  boys  who  had  spent  two  years  at  one  of 
the  schools  under  his  direction,  "one  of  the  best  and  most  promis- 
ing in  genius  and  disposition  .  .  .  without  favor  or  affection," 
who  was  to  be  educated  and  boarded  at  the  grammar  school  of  his 
district  for  one,  two,  or  more  years,  according  to  his  "genius 
and  disposition."  Those  whose  parents  were  too  poor  to  give  them 
further  education  were,  however,  to  have  preference.  The  most 
promising  ones  of  those  who  were  advanced  through  the  grammar 
schools  were  to  be  "educated,  boarded,  and  clothed,  three  years" 
at  public  expense  at  William  and  Mary  College,  which  was  also  to 
be  improved  and  enlarged. 

The  strong  features  as  well  as  the  weaknesses  of  this  plan  are 
obvious  to  the  modern  student  of  education.  It  shows  the  influ- 
ence of  the  educational  ideas  of  certain  French  revolutionists 
whom  Jefferson  greatly  admired,  and  was  very  advanced  for  the 
time.  Had  it  been  adopted  a  highly  creditable  public-school  sys- 
tem would  have  been  set  up  in  Virginia  before  1800.  The  Legisla- 
ture did  receive  the  plan  with  some  interest,  but  never  acted  on  it. 
The  confusion  of  the  times  and  the  heavy  expense  which  the 


126  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

proposed  system  would  have  involved  helped  to  work  its  defeat. 
The  matter  of  determining  the  schools  proposed  was  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  landed  gentry,  who  were  already  provided  with 
private  schools  and  did  not  keenly  feel  the  need  of  the  system 
proposed.  Therefore  they  were  not  likely  to  tax  themselves 
for  schools  which  they  would  not  patronize.  Moreover,  the  ab- 
sence of  a  strong  middle  class  to  support  it  helped  to  bring 
failure  to  the  plan. 

These  early  educational  labors  of  Jefferson  were  not  lost,  how- 
ever, even  though  they  were  not  immediately  successful  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  subject  of  education  there  and  elsewhere  began  to 
receive  careful  attention,  and  Jefferson's  zeal  in  its  cause  never 
flagged.  Moreover,  the  Legislature  frequently  gave  attention  to 
proposed  educational  legislation,  which  showed  his  influence  and 
the  influence  of  the  bill  of  1779. 

The  State  seemed  to  hang  back  from  adopting  any  practical 
educational  plan,  however,  until  1796.  In  that  year  an  act  was 
passed,  to  go  into  effect  January  i,  1797,  which  in  the  main  em- 
bodied Jefferson's  original  plan;  and  although  it,  too,  was  of  a 
permissive  and  discretionary  character,  nevertheless  its  passage 
was  very  significant  in  the  educational  growth  of  that  State. 
The  lofty  words  and  sentiment  of  its  preamble  were  characteristic 
of  educational  writings  of  the  time: 

Whereas  it  appeareth  that  the  great  advantages,  which  civilized  and 
polished  nations  enjoy,  beyond  the  savage  and  barbarous  nations  of  the 
world,  are  principally  derived  from  the  invention  and  use  of  letters, 
by  means  whereof  the  knowledge  and  experience  of  past  ages  are  re- 
corded and  transmitted,  so  that  man,  availing  himself  in  succession 
of  the  accumulated  wisdom  and  discoveries  of  his  predecessors,  is 
enabled  more  successfully  to  pursue  and  improve  not  only  those  acts 
which  contribute  to  the  support,  convenience,  and  ornament  of  life, 
but  those  also,  which  tend  to  illumine  and  enable  his  understanding  and 
his  nature. 

And  whereas,  upon  a  review  of  the  history  of  mankind,  it  seemeth 
that  however  favorable  republican  government,  founded  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  equal  liberty,  justice,  and  order,  may  be  to  human  happiness, 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES          127 

no  real  stability,  or  lasting  permanency  thereof  can  be  rationally 
hoped  for,  if  the  minds  of  the  citizens  be  not  rendered  liberal  and 
humane,  and  be  not  fully  impressed  with  the  importance  of  those  prin- 
ciples from  whence  these  blessings  proceed :  With  a  view,  therefore,  to 
lay  the  first  foundations  of  a  system  of  education,  which  may  tend  to 
produce  these  desirable  purposes,  Be  it  enacted  by  the  general  assem- 
bly, etc. 

The  plan  proposed  by  this  act  was  worthy  and  somewhat  ad- 
vanced for  the  time  and  contained  the  elements  of  a  thorough 
free-school  system  for  the  white  children  of  the  State.  But  it  was 
weakened  by  a  clause  which  left  the  entire  matter  discretionary 
with  the  county  courts  to  say  when  the  proposed  school  system 
should  go  into  operation  in  the  various  counties.  Moreover,  each 
county  was  to  provide  for  the  'expense  of  its  own  schools.  The 
greater  burden  of  educating  the  children  of  the  community  would 
have  fallen,  therefore,  on  the  wealthier  part ;  and  since  the  county 
magistrates  were  usually  wealthy  country  gentlemen,  it  is  not 
amazing  that  the  plan  was  not  adopted  in  any  county  and  that 
the  law  soon  became  a  dead  letter. 

In  spite  of  the  appeals  of  certain  public-spirited  leaders  who 
urged  attention  to  the  subject,  nothing  further  was  achieved  for 
public  education  in  Virginia  until  the  creation  of  the  literary 
fund  in  1810.  Educational  sentiment  was  developing  slowly,  and 
the  establishment  of  this  public-school  endowment  somewhat  stim- 
ulated interest  in  schools.  During  the  next  few  years  attention 
was  called  to  the  educational  needs  of  the  State,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture was  urged  to  remove  this  "  reproach  to  our  public  spirit."  The 
literary  board  reported  a  school  plan  in  1816,  and  a  bill  con- 
formable to  it  was  presented  to  the  Legislature  and  passed  the 
House,  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  Virginia  again  missed  the  oppor- 
tunity, of  inaugurating  a  plan  which  contained  the  principles  of  a 
fairly  adequate  and  complete  system  of  education. 

Although  the  cause  of  public  education  was  again  defeated  the 
agitation  for  schools  did  not  cease.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Leg- 
islature in  December,  1817,  Governor  Preston  urged  attention  to 


128  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

this  great  object,  saying,  "Give  to  all,  rich  and  poor,  equally 
the  means  of  instruction."  By  this  time  the  literary  fund  was 
generally  considered  large  enough  to  yield  an  income  sufficient  to 
render  considerable  educational  service.  The  problem  now  seemed 
simplified ;  and  an  act  was  passed  February  21,  1818,  to  appropri- 
ate a  part  of  the  revenue  of  the  literary  fund  for  the  education 
'of  poor  children.  This  act  was  the  basis  of  the  so-called  "pauper" 
school  system  of  Virginia,  which  continued  throughout  the  ante- 
bellum period. 

Under  the  provisions  of  this  law  the  sum  of  $45,000  was  to  be 
appropriated  annually  from  the  income  of  the  literary  fund,  to  be 
distributed  to  the  counties,  cities,  and  towns  on  the  basis  of  their 
free  white  population.  The  county  courts  were  to  appoint  school 
commissioners  (varying  in  number  according  to  the  size  of  the 
county),  who  were  to  determine  the  number  of  poor  children  for 
whom  their  quota  of  the  annual  appropriation  would  afford  in- 
struction. Each  commissioner  was  to  select  as  many  poor  children, 
with  the  consent  of  their  parents  or  guardians,  as  he  thought 
expedient.  These  were  to  be  placed  in  such  schools  as  were 
convenient,  and  arrangements  were  to  be  made  with  the  teachers 
for  instructing  them  at  a  definite  rate,  usually  three  or  four  cents, 
for  each  day  such  children  were  in  actual  attendance.  The  children 
were  to  be  taught  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic ;  and  the  ex- 
penses of  their  tuition  and  of  their  books  and  writing  materials 
were  to  be  paid  out  of  the  county  quota  of  the  annual  appropria- 
tion. The  commissioners  were  to  make  annual  reports  to  the 
literary  board,  giving  the  number  of  poor  children  in  the  county, 
the  number  in  school,  the  cost  of  their  tuition  and  supplies, 
and  such  other  facts  as  would  show  the  operation  of  the 
system.  The  same  law  created  the  University  of  Virginia  and 
appropriated  from  the  literary  fund  the  sum  of  $15,000  for 
its  support. 

Thus,  after  an  agitation  which  extended  over  nearly  forty 
years  the  Old  Dominion  in  a  small  measure  committed  itself  to 
the  theory  of  public  schools.  But  the  act  passed  in  1818  was  de- 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES          129 

fective  in  principle  and  was  only  a  feeble  acceptance  of  Jefferson's 
educational  idea.  In  the  main,  however,  it  continued  the  principal 
legal  basis  of  popular  educational  practice  in  that  State  throughout 
the  ante-bellum  period.  The  actual  operation  of  the  plan  thus 
created  and  subsequent  efforts  for  educational  improvement  in 
Virginia  will  be  treated  in  another  chapter. 

Actual  educational  conditions  in  South  Carolina  before  1840 
were  in  many  respects  very  similar  to  the  conditions  in  Virginia 
during  that  time.  The  theory  of  education  was  practically  the 
same  in  both  States ;  the  constitution  of  each  State  was  tardy 
in  making  educational  provisions ;  educational  interests  in  each 
were  left  to  the  whims  of  the  Legislature,  which  was  often  indif- 
ferent and  at  times  hostile;  and  each  State  early  inaugurated  a 
school  plan  for  the  less  prosperous  part  of  its  population  which 
was  so  defective  in  principle  as  practically  to  work  its  own 
defeat.  In  provisions  for  school  support,  however,  the  two 
States  differed  somewhat.  The  support  of  schools  in  Virginia  came 
from  the  income  of  the  permanent  public  endowment  created 
in  1810;  while  South  Carolina,  which  had  no  such  public  fund 
until  after  the  Civil  War,  supported  its  so-called  free  schools  dur- 
ing the  ante-bellum  period  by  annual  legislative  appropriations. 
In  South  Carolina,  however,  evidences  of  educational  interest 
appeared  early,  although  there,  as  in  Virginia,  local  difficulties 
continued  obstinate  and  greatly  hindered  a  satisfactory  growth 
of  educational  opportunity. 

One  of  the  difficulties  was  sectional  jealousy  in  the  State.  The 
lower  section  of  South  Carolina  was  wealthy  and  cultured,  many 
of  its  citizens  having  been  trained  in  the  North  or  in  Europe; 
while  the  upper  section  was  the  more  populous,  but  deficient  in 
education  and  wealth.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives were  apportioned  on  the  basis  of  wealth  rather  than  on 
that  of  population ;  and  as  its  wealth  increased,  the  people  of  the 
upper  section  of  the  State  demanded  a  more  equitable  share  in 
governmental  affairs.  The  people  of  the  lower  section  were  not 
willing  to  place  the  affairs  of  the  State  in  the  hands  of  the 


130  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

uneducated,  "and  wisely  concluded  that  it  was  best  to  afford  the 
means  of  improvement,  until  they  were  fitted  to  assume  control."1 
The  organization  and  work  of  certain  societies  (see  Chapter  II) 
had  served  as  steps  to  this  end  and  had  influence  in  uniting 
the  two  sections  of  the  State.  But  jealousy  continued.  In  the 
Legislature  of  1801,  when  the  South  Carolina  College  was  estab- 
lished, there  was  sharp  opposition,  which  persisted  for  some 
time;  and  the  following  year  the  Legislature  received  from 
the  upper  section  two  petitions  urging  that  the  act  establishing 
the  college  be  repealed.  This  sectional  jealousy  was  among  the 
causes  which  prevented  South  Carolina  from  establishing  before 
the  Civil  War  a  system  of  schools  commensurate  with  its  needs 
and  resources.  Nor  did  the  plan  adopted  during  the  ante-bellum 
period  meet  the  expectations  of  its  creators.  But  the  subject 
of  popular  education  early  claimed  serious  attention  and  was 
agitated  widely  and  continuously  before  1860.  One  of  the  early 
significant  statements  on  the  need  of  schools  appeared  in  the 
Charleston  Courier  in  1803  :  "We  see  great  incomes  wasted,  great 
grandeur  in  equipage  .  .  .  but  we  do  not  see  the  country  studded 
up  and  down  with  those  precious  jewels  of  a  State,  jree  schools" 
And  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1811  Governor  Henry 
Middleton  said: 

I  cannot  suffer  the  present  occasion  to  pass,  without  bringing  to 
your  view  the  propriety  of  establishing  jree  schools,  in  all  those  parts 
of  the  State  where  such  institutions  are  wanted ;  there  can  scarcely  be 
a  difference  of  opinion  of  the  advantages  which  a  country  must  gener- 
ally derive  from  the  instruction  of  its  people;  but  one  of  the  first  objects 
of  a  government,  founded  on  popular  rights,  should  be  to  diffuse  the 
benefits  of  education  as  widely  as  possible ;  and  to  enlighten  and  inform 
the  whole  mass  of  that  people,  whose  collective  will  controls  and 
directs  the  energies  of  the  country.  A  system  of  general  instruction  is 
essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  political  institutions.  Your  liberal 
support  of  the  South  Carolina  College,  a  monument  of  your  veneration 
for  science  and  learning,  testifies  your  anxious  solicitude  to  secure  to 
our  youth  the  highest  advantages  of  instruction,  and  doubtless  that 

*Meriwether,  History  of  Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina,  pp.  133,  134. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES          131 

seminary  will  yield  annually  on  accession  of  able  and  virtuous  citizens 
to  the  State;  but  those  alone  whose  affluent  circumstances  have  en- 
abled them  to  pass  through  certain  preparatory  studies,  can  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  that  institution;  it  is  now  hoped  that  you  will  employ 
some  portion  of  your  funds  in  procuring  the  elements  of  education  for 
the  children  of  indigent  persons.  Reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  are 
highly  essential  to  those  children  who  must  owe  their  advancement  in 
life  to  their  industry ;  and  while  they  are  acquiring  the  keys  of  knowl- 
edge, their  hearts  may  be  formed  to  a  proper  sense  of  moral  and 
religious  excellence.  To  every  real  philanthropist,  this  must  be  an 
object  of  great  interest,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  diffusion  of 
useful  knowledge  has  ever  been  found  the  means  of  correcting  the 
propensity  of  vice,  and  of  diminishing  the  number  of  crimes. 

Petitions  for  free  schools  were  presented  to  this  Legislature 
from  citizens  of  the  districts  of  Fairfield.  Chester,  Williamsburg, 
Darlington,  Edgefield,  Barnwell,  York,  St.  Stephen's,  St.  James's, 
Santee,  St.  John's,  Colleton,and  St.  Peter's,  and  these  were  referred, 
together  with  the  governor's  message  on  the  same  subject,  to  the 
proper  committees.  A  joint  committee  on  education  was  appointed 
from  both  Houses,  and  early  in  December  it  regularly  reported  a 
bill  to  establish  free  schools  throughout  the  State.  The  bill  passed 
the  Senate  without  a  roll  call  and  the  House  by  a  vote  of  seventy- 
two  to  fifteen.  This  act,  which  seems  to  have  been  designed  as  the 
initial  movement  to  create  and  set  in  operation  a  school  system 
which  would  furnish  elementary  instruction  to  all  the  children  of 
the  State,  not  only  was  the  basis  of  the  only  school  plan  attempted 
in  South  Carolina  before  1860,  but,  with  the  exception  of  an  act 
passed  in  1835,  was  the  most  important  legislative  enactment  for 
schools  in  that  State  throughout  the  entire  ante-bellum  period. 

The  law  provided  for  the  legislative  appointment,  one  every 
three  years,  of  a  board  of  school  commissioners  for  each  election 
district,  the  size  of  the  board  depending  on  the  size  of  the  district. 
This  board  was  to  establish  in  each  district  of  the  State  as  many 
schools  as  it  had  members  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
in  the  administration  of  his  duties  each  commissioner  was  to  be 
assisted  by  three  trustees  for  each  school.  The  commissioners 


132  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

were  to  determine  the  location  of  the  schools ;  to  examine,  appoint, 
and  remove  teachers;  to  admit  pupils,  the  local  trustees  making 
recommendations  regarding  their  fitness;  to  have  general  super- 
vision over  all  free-school  interests  in  their  districts ;  to  draw  on 
the  treasurer  of  the  State  for  the  amounts  due  teachers,  naming 
each  one  and  giving  the  number  of  his  school,  his  division  in  the 
district,  and  his  time  of  service;  and  to  make  annual  reports  of 
school  statistics  to  the  Legislature.  Each  election  district  was  to 
receive  for  free-school  support  the  sum  of  $300  annually  for  every 
representative  it  had  in  the  Legislature.  The  schools  were  to  be 
free  to  all  citizens  of  the  State,  but  if  more  children  should  apply 
for  admission  than  could  be  accommodated  preference  should  be 
given  to  poor  orphans  and  the  children  of  indigent  parents.  This 
provision  proved  to  be  the  chief  defect  of  the  plan.  The  original 
purpose  of  the  law  and  of  the  system  which  it  created  was  to  fur- 
nish a  substantial  English  education  to  all  the  children  of  the 
State,  but  in  spite  of  its  purpose  the  plan  came  early  to  be  re- 
garded as  merely  for  the  poor  and  was  so  regarded  throughout 
the  ante-bellum  period. 

Until  a  sufficient  number  of  schools  could  be  set  up  the  officials 
were  empowered  to  convert  those  which  were  begun  into  "moving 
schools,"  if  by  this  means  the  purposes  of  the  act  could  be  better 
promoted.  Moreover,  the  law  recognized  the  existence  of  other 
schools  in  the  State : 

In  all  districts  where  a  school  or  schools  are  already,  or  may  here- 
after be  established  by  private  funds  or  individual  subscription,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  commissioners  of  the  free-schools,  at  their 
discretion,  to  unite  such  part  or  parts  of  the  fund  provided  by  this 
act  for  such  district  with  such  school  or  schools,  in  such  manner  as 
may  appear  to  them  best  calculated  to  promote  the  objects  of  this  act. 

The  act  of  1 81 1  remained  practically  the  only  legislation  on  the 
subject  of  free  schools  in  South  Carolina,  with  the  exception  of  a 
supplementary  act  passed  in  1835  and  occasional  resolutions  of 
the  Legislature.  The  law  of  1835  was  m  principle  the  same 
as  that  of  the  original  law  except  that  it  provided  for  imposing 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  133 

penalties  on  the  commissioners  for  failure  to  perform  their  duties. 
In  spite  of  this  provision,  however,  these  officers  were  frequently 
careless  and  indifferent,  and  the  penalties  prescribed  were  rarely 
imposed.  The  school  plan  thus  provided  by  these  two  acts  was 
defective  in  principle,  but  it  remained  the  basis  of  all  that  was 
accomplished  for  public-school  education  in  South  Carolina  before 
1860.  The  operation  of  the  system  and  the  attempts  to  bring 
about  educational  reform  during  that  period  will  be  discussed 
in  another  chapter. 

No  Southern  State  began  its  career  as  a  member  of  the  Union 
with  more  promising  educational  prospects  than  Georgia.  Though 
the  youngest  of  the  original  colonies  it  was  among  the  first  of 
the  States  to  make  constitutional  provisions  for  education  (see  page 
119),  and  its  early  efforts  signalized  the  purpose  of  inaugurating  an 
educational  policy  which  would  doubtless  have  closely  approxi- 
mated the  ideal  of  Thomas  Jefferson  if  the  liberal  ideas  of  the 
framers  of  the  State  could  have  been  followed. 

Among  the  earliest  recorded  opinions  on  the  subject  of  education 
in  Georgia  after  the  Revolution  was  the  message  of  Governor 
Lyman  Hall  in  1783,  when  he  urged  the  Legislature  to  enact  such 
laws  as  would  encourage  the  cultivation  of  the  principles  of  re- 
ligion and  virtue  "  among  our  citizens."  To  this  end  he  recom- 
mended the  endowment  of  seminaries  of  learning  by  sufficient 
tracts  of  land  to  support  "such  valuable  institutions";  and  this 
suggestion  of  land  grants  as  endowments  of  educational  institutions 
in  the  State  proved  to  be  the  first  step  in  the  establishment  of 
numerous  academies  and  of  the  state  university.  Acting  under 
the  mandate  of  the  constitution  and  in  accord  with  the  sug- 
gestion of  Governor  Hall,  the  Legislature  in  July,  1783,  passed 
a  law  which  chartered  academies  in  three  counties  in  the  State 
and  gave  them  landed  endowments  and  empowered  the  governor 
to  grant  one  thousand  acres  of  land  for  the  establishment  of  a 
free  school  in  each  of  the  other  counties.  During  the  next  sev- 
eral years  practically  all  the  educational  legislation  enacted  in 
the  State  showed  interest  in  the  academies  or  the  university. 


134  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  piece  of  educational  legislation 
in  Georgia  during  the  early  years  of  statehood  was  the  act  of 
chartering  the  university  of  the  State.  This  was  passed  in 
February,  1784,  and  created  a  college  or  seminary  of  learning 
and  endowed  it  with  forty  thousand  acres  of  land,  thus  giving 
to  Georgia  the  distinction  of  having  chartered  the  first  state 
university  in  the  United  States.  In  January,  1785,  an  act  was 
passed  for  a  "more  full  and  complete  establishment  of  a  public 
seat  of  learning." 

Under  the  law  enacted  at  this  time  the  educational  interests 
of  the  State  began  on  a  most  promising  plan,  the  purpose  being 
to  unite  all  literary  concerns  and  provide  for  them  in  common. 
All  phases  of  public  education  in  the  State  were  to  become  a 
part  of  the  university,  whose  "senatus  academicus"  was  required 
to  act  in  an  advisory  capacity  toward  all  public  schools  instituted 
or  "supported  by  funds  or  public  moneys  in  this  State."  Such 
schools  were  regarded  as  parts  of  the  university ;  they  were  to 
be  directed  and  regulated  by  it,  and  the  president  of  the  uni- 
versity was  to  visit  them  regularly  and  examine  into  their  work. 
The  plan  was  remarkable  for  its  centralization,  but  it  was  im- 
practicable for  the  time  and  the  conditions  with  which  it  had 
to  deal.  The  county  academies  were  few  and  scattered,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  time  was  not  one  which  looked  with  great  favor  on 
centralization  of  authority.  The  result  was  that  the  plan  of 
making  the  university  the  central  educational  authority  of  the 
State  failed  except  in  name. 

From  the  establishment  of  the  university  until  1817  there 
was  but  little  public  educational  effort  in  the  State  except  leg- 
islative encouragement  of  academies  and  of  the  university.  The 
academies  grew  rapidly  and,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  received  liberal  legislative  support.  So-called  elemen- 
tary schools,  however,  were  not  receiving  any  encouragement 
from  the  State,  probably  for  the  reason  that  more  than  ordi- 
nary attention  was  paid  to  schools  which  were  thought  to  be  of 
an  academic  grade.  But  sentiment  in  favor  of  public  elementary 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  135 

schools  was  slowly  growing,  and  although  the  idea  of  charity  en- 
tered early  into  all  efforts  of  the  State  to  provide  elementary 
education  and  persisted  throughout  the  ante-bellum  period,  yet 
a  beginning  was  made  of  a  plan  which  finally  afforded  consider- 
able instruction  to  a  class  which  otherwise  would  have  been 
entirely  neglected  educationally. 

With  the  passage  of  the  act  of  July,  1783,  the  genesis  of  the 
so-called  "poor  school"  system  of  Georgia  was  made,  though 
the  plan  contemplated  in  that  legislation  did  not  become  suffi- 
ciently formulated  to  be  put  into  operation  until  more  than  thirty 
years  later.  A  wholesome  educational  sentiment  was  in  the  mak- 
ing, however,  during  that  time.  In  his  message  to  the  Legislature 
in  November,  1816,  Governor  D.  B.  Mitchell  said: 

What  a  weight  of  obligation  does  not  our  present  happy  and  enviable 
situation  impose  upon  us,  to  cherish,  support  and  maintain,  our  invalu- 
able constitution  in  its  present  shape  and  form.  Let  us  jealously  en- 
deavor to  discharge  this  obligation  by  all  the  means  in  our  power.  It 
has  been  often  said,  and  1  think  truly,  that  knowledge  is  one  of  the 
surest  means  by  which  liberty  is  either  to  be  obtained  or  preserved; 
and  that  knowledge  which  is  improved,  enlarged  and  refined,  by  a 
liberal  education,  is  undoubtedly  the  best.  If  we  turn  to  the  historic 
page  we  shall  find,  that  all  those  nations  which  encouraged  and 
patronized  learned  men,  and  institutions  for  the  education  of  their 
youth,  were  the  most  free,  and  if  for  a  time  they  fell  under  oppression, 
they  seldom  failed  to  embrace  the  most  favorable  opportunity  to  break 
the  fetters,  and  re-establish  their  freedom.  .  .  . 

Our  State  has  in  this  respect  done  much,  but  she  ought  still  to  do 
much  more.  Thirty  years'  experience  has  proved  that  the  legislative 
provision  for  the  establishment  and  support  of  our  county  academieSj 
is  altogether  insufficient :  but  few  of  them  have  gone  into  operation, 
and  those  that  have,  it  is  well  known  have  been  greatly  aided  by  indi- 
vidual patronage.  The  great  increase  of  our  territory  and  population, 
and  the  inadequacy  of  the  fund  heretofore  appropriated  for  this  pur- 
pose, seems  to  me  to  require  further  legislative  provision. 

It  is  highly  gratifying  to  witness  the  individual  efforts  now  making 
in  many  parts  of  the  State,  for  the  establishment  and  support  of  private 
schools  and  academies ;  and  will  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  refuse  to 


136  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

encourage  and  promote  such  laudable  exertion?  Surely  they  will  not 
.  .  .  Enlighten  the  rising  generation  and  their  liberties  will  be  secure — 
leave  them  in  ignorance  and  they  may  be  made  slaves. 

Largely  as  a  result  of  this  message  and  a  growing  sentiment  in 
favor  of  providing  educational  facilities,  there  was  enacted  in 
December,  1817,  an  act  which  gave  substantial  impetus  to  the 
free-school  idea.  Under  authority  of  this  legislation  the  sum  of 
$250,000  was  appropriated  by  the  Legislature  to  be  set  apart 
for  the  "  future  establishment  and  support  of  free  schools  through- 
out the  State,"  and  the  governor  was  empowered  to  invest  that 
sum  in  bank  stock  or  other  profitable  stock.  The  following  year 
certain  lots  in  each  surveyor's  district  in  the  counties  of  Appling, 
Irwin,  Early,  Walton,  Gwinnett,  Hall,  and  Habersham  were 
reserved  for  the  education  of  poor  children.  This  remained 
the  principal  educational  legislation  in  the  State  until  Decem- 
ber, 1821,  when  another  act  was  passed  dealing  with  free 
schools.  This  law,  "for  the  permanent  endowment  of  county 
academies,"  set  apart  the  sum  of  $500,000  to  be  equally  divided, 
one  half  for  the  support  of  free  schools  and  the  other  half  for 
the  "permanent  endowment"  of  county  academies.  This  legisla- 
tion marks  the  origin  of  the  harmful  distinction  made  between 
the  academy  fund  and  the  "poor  school"  fund  which  persisted 
for  so  many  years  in  Georgia.  The  greatest  immediate  influence 
of  the  law  was  doubtless  the  stimulation  of  academies.  During  the 
next  decade  more  than  one  hundred  academies  were  chartered — 
three  times  as  many  as  had  been  chartered  during  the  preceding 
forty  years.  During  the  decade  from  1830  to  1840  this  number 
more  than  doubled. 

The  next  significant  legislation  dealing  with  public  elementary 
instruction  was  passed  in  1822.  By  act  of  December  23  of  that 
year  the  justices  of  the  inferior  courts  were  to  appoint  one  or 
more  "fit  and  proper  persons"  in  their  respective  counties  to 
superintend  the  education  of  the  poor  children.  These  officers 
were  required  to  enumerate  and  make  a  list  of  all  poor  children 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  137 

in  their  counties  and  return  their  names  to  the  county  justices, 
who  were  to  examine  and  certify  the  same  and  deliver  the  list  to 
the  governor.  The  justices  were  not  allowed  to  return  the  name 
of  any  child  whose  parent  or  estate  paid  a  "tax  exceeding  fifty 
cents"  above  the  poll  tax.  The  governor,  under  the  act,  was  to 
distribute  the  sum  of  $12,000  of  the  bank  dividends  and  other 
proceeds  of  the  "poor  school"  fund  among  the  various  counties  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  the  poor  children  returned  by 
the  justices,  and  the  money  was  to  be  paid  to  "such  persons  as  the 
inferior  court  may  empower  to  receive  the  same."  It  was  the 
duty  of  the  persons  so  appointed  to  cause  "any  of  the  poor 
children  so  returned  to  go  to  school  at  such  schools  as  may  be 
convenient  in  their  respective  neighborhoods."  Each  teacher 
instructing  such  children  was  required  to  present  his  account  to  one 
of  the  justices  of  the  county,  who  was  required  to  have  "  the  same 
paid  where  it  shall  appear  just."  However,  no  child  was  to  be 
instructed  at  the  expense  of  the  fund  who  had  already  "been 
taught  reading,  writing,  and  the  usual  rules  of  arithmetic."  More- 
over, no  child  under  eight  or  above  eighteen  years  of  age  could 
participate  in  the  benefit  of  the  fund,  and  none  could  be  sent 
to  school  at  public  expense  more  than  three  years.  The  census 
required  by  the  law  called  for  the  enumeration  of  children  "  as  well 
poor  as  rich,  and  female  as  well  as  male"  between  the  ages  of 
eight  and  eighteen  years.  The  justices  were  required  to  make  a 
report  to  the  "senatus  academicus"  of  the  university  "of  their 
actings  and  doings,"  to  accompany  such  report  with  such  re- 
marks as  they  thought  proper  to  make  concerning  the  utility  of 
the  plan,  and  to  suggest  any  other  plan  which  they  considered 
"likely  to  produce  the  benefits  intended." 

This  legislation  became  the  real  basis  of  elementary  educa- 
tional practices  in  Georgia  before  1860.  In  none  of  the  laws 
described,  however,  is  there  any  evidence  that  the  establishment 
of  special  schools  was  contemplated  for  the  instruction  of  poor 
children,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  any  were  established. 
Teachers  in  the  academies  or  in  "inferior  or  elementary"  schools 


138  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

already  in  operation  who  were  willing  to  comply  with  the  few 
simple  formalities  of  the  law  and  to  undertake  the  work  received 
for  instruction  those  children  of  the  community  who,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  justices,  came  within  the  meaning  of  the  law. 
Such  children  were  entered  with  such  teachers,  who  received  their 
share  of  the  fund  apportioned  for  the  purpose  of  educating  the 
poor  children  of  the  State.  In  December,  1823,  the  act  of  the 
previous  year  was  altered,  and  provision  was  made  for  the  an- 
nual distribution  of  $20,000  from  the  income  of  the  poor- 
school  fund  among  the  counties  of  the  State  in  proportion  to  their 
free  white  population,  for  the  purpose  of  educating  indigent 
youth. 

The  plan  thus  provided  for  public  elementary  education  con- 
tinued until  the  late  thirties.  Like  the  plan  in  Virginia  and  in 
South  Carolina  it  was  inherently  defective,  and  throughout  its 
long  life  its  principle  was  attacked  as  unwholesome  in  that  it 
served  to  accentuate  invidious  distinctions  in  the  public  mind. 
However,  its  inauguration  marked  a  step,  however  feeble,  in  the 
direction  of  one  correct  principle  of  public  education — that  of 
state  support.  Here  the  State  appeared  partially  committed  to 
that  principle,  although  its  application  was  not  to  all  the  commu- 
nity, but  rather  to  the  less  prosperous  part.  Moreover,  while  it  was 
defective  in  principle  and  of  unwholesome  influence  in  its  opera- 
tion, the  plan  yet  placed  the  crumbs  of  elementary  instruction 
within  reach  of  hundreds  of  poor  children  whose  intellectual 
lives  would  otherwise  have  remained  entirely  unnourished. 

No  further  important  legislation  was  enacted  for  public-school 
education  in  Georgia  until  1837.  In  that  year  a  thorough  public- 
school  system  for  all  the  youth  of  the  State  was  set  up,  to  be  sup- 
ported by  a  combination  of  a  large  school  fund  and  a  permissive 
county  tax,  but  the  plan  thus  provided  was  shortly  replaced  by 
the  original  plan.  Other  more  or  less  successful  attempts  were 
later  made  to  improve  the  public  educational  conditions  in  the 
State,  but  the  plan  of  1822,  in  the  main,  continued  until  the 
Civil  War.  The  actual  operation  of  this  plan  before  1860  as  well 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES          139 

as  the  legislative  attempts  at  improvement  during  the  ante- 
bellum period  will  be  treated  in  a  later  chapter. 

It  was  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the  history  of  early 
educational  effort  in  Tennessee  was  closely  connected  with  the 
history  of  public  lands  in  that  State.  It  was  also  pointed  out 
that  North  Carolina  (from  which  State  Tennessee  was  settled 
near  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century)  ceded  to  the  Federal 
Government  in  1790  all  the  lands  in  the  region  now  known  as 
Tennessee,  that  Tennessee  was  organized  as  a  territory  in  1794 
and  admitted  to  the  Union  as  the  sixteenth  state  in  1796,  and 
that  the  Federal  Government  retained  until  1806  the  lands 
which  had  been  ceded  by  North  Carolina.  In  1802  Ohio  had 
been  admitted  to  the  Union  and  had  received  from  Congress  the 
sixteenth-section  school-land  grant,  but  similar  provision  was 
not  made  for  Tennessee  until  1806.  In  that  year,  however,  some 
educational  provision  was  made  in  the  requirement  that  the 
State  should,  "in  issuing  grants  and  perfecting  titles,  locate  640 
acres  to  every  six  miles  square  in  the  territory  hereby  ceded 
where  existing  claims  will  allow  the  same,  which  shall  be  appro- 
priated for  the  use  of  schools  for  the  instruction  of  children 
forever." 

There  was  an  important  difference,  however,  between  the 
educational  provision  thus  made  for  Tennessee  and  that  made  for 
Ohio  by  the  land  grants  of  Congress.  The  sixteenth-sections  in 
Ohio  had  been  definitely  located  by  the  admirable  survey 
system  of  the  Federal  Government,  but  Tennessee  was  not  di- 
vided into  the  six-miles-square  townships,  and  it  was  difficult 
to  locate  the  sections  designed  for  school  purposes.  Moreover, 
there  had  been  a  steady  stream  of  immigrants  into  the  region  for 
many  years,  and  the  settlers  had  acquired  valid  claims  to  a 
large  part  of  the  land  which,  by  the  act  of  Congress  in  1806, 
was  intended  for  school  support.  These  pioneers  naturally  re- 
sisted all  efforts  which  were  made  to  take  their  lands  for  the 
purposes  of  that  act,  and  considerable  confusion  resulted.  As 
early  as  1806,  however,  legislation  was  enacted  by  the  State 


140  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

directing  a  survey  and  division  of  the  newly  acquired  territory 
into  tracts  "as  near  six  miles  square  as  the  case  will  admit,"  and 
six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  "fit  for  cultivation  and  im- 
provement" were  to  be  located  in  each  tract  for  the  use  of  schools. 
With  the  passage  of  this  act  confusion  began  because,  with  the 
first  efforts  to  comply  with  its  provisions  and  the  provisions  of 
the  act  of  Congress,  the  settlers  began  to  resist,  and  difficulties 
growing  out  of  the  situation  perplexed  the  Legislature  many 
years.  It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  title  to  these  lands 
in  Tennessee  was  vested  in  the  State  and  not  in  the  township 
or  district. 

The  land  office  was  opened  in  1807,  and  for  nearly  two  decades 
the  school  lands  were  leased  by  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
county  courts.  But  it  soon  became  apparent  that  although  the 
land  provisions  for  schools  seemed  munificent  they  were,  in  fact, 
entirely  inadequate  for  maintaining  a  system  of  schools  which 
would  furnish  without  cost  to  the  people  the  benefits  of  educa- 
tion to  the  children  of  the  State.  Moreover,  the  lands  had  not 
been  properly  protected,  and  the  Legislature  rejected  the  gov- 
ernor's recommendation  in  1821  that  steps  be  taken  to  acquire 
full  information  on  the  subject.  Sentiment  in  favor  of  more 
adequate  educational  provisions  was  growing,  however,  and  in 
September,  1823,  Governor  William  Carroll  said,  addressing 
the  Legislature: 

The  subject  of  education  has  often  been  recommended,  and  its 
claims  to  the  fostering  care  of  the  Legislature  cannot  be  too  strongly 
urged.  Our  colleges  and  academies  have  languished  for  the  want  of 
those  funds  so  essential  to  their  prospects  and  usefulness.  A  strong 
and  very  laudable  desire  seems  generally  to  be  manifested,  that  we 
should  not  be  dependent  upon  the  literary  institutions  of  our  sister 
States  for  the  education  of  our  sons.  We  have  the  means,  and  it  is 
only  necessary  that  they  should  be  brought  into  action,  and  Tennessee 
will  soon  be  as  distinguished  for  her  literary  attainments  as  she  has 
been  for  the  defense  of  her  rights.  The  durability  of  our  government 
will  much  depend  upon  the  information  of  its  citizens,  which  cannot 
be  attained  by  all,  unless  the  means  are  brought  within  the  reach  of  all. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  141 

Then  talents  will  be  brought  from  obscurity,  and  the  son  of  the 
poorest  man  in  the  community  may  be  qualified  for  usefulness  and 
the  highest  office  in  the  State.  The  subject  demands  your  peculiar 
attention,  and  its  importance  is  its  highest  recommendation. 


It  was  in  that  year  that  the  first  step  was  taken  toward  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  public-school  system.  Legislation  was  enacted  by 
which  offices  were  established  for  receiving  entries  for  vacant  lands 
north  and  east  of  the  congressional  reservation,  the  lands  to  be 
entered  at  the  price  of  twelve  and  a  half  cents  an  acre,  and  the 
proceeds  to  be  paid  quarterly  by  the  entry  clerks  to  certain 
banks  which  were  designated  for  the  purpose.  The  funds  arising 
from  this  source  were  to  "remain  and  constitute  a  perpetual  and 
exclusive  fund  for  the  establishment  and  promotion  of  common 
schools  in  each  and  every  county  in  the  State."  By  the  same 
act  taxes  on  these  lands  became  a  part  of  the  public-school  fund, 
to  be  kept  separate  and  paid  over  to  the  proper  bank  or  banks, 
whose  agents  were  to  make  a  semiannual  distribution  of  these 
sources  of  school  support  among  the  school  commissioners,  who 
were  provided  for  by  the  same  act.  There  were  to  be  five  of 
these  officers  in  each  county,  to  be  named  by  the  county  court.  Up 
to  this  point  the  law  had  creditable  features,  but,  like  early  legis- 
lation in  the  States  already  discussed,  it  was  defective  in  one 
very  vital  point:  the  county  school  officials  were  to  appropriate 
the  funds  received  under  the  provisions  of  the  act  "to  the  educa- 
tion of  the  poor,  either  by  establishing  poor  schools  in  their  differ- 
ent counties  or  by  paying  the  tuition  of  poor  children."  Thus 
another  lawmaking  body,  by  the  unnecessary  use  of  an  unfortu- 
nate adjective,  at  the  outset  limited  the  usefulness  of  what  was 
obviously  intended  as  the  beginning  of  a  creditable  school  system 
and,  by  recognizing  class  distinctions,  discouraged  the  patronage 
of  the  schools  by  all  classes. 

Although  defective,  this  act  of  1823  served  a  good  purpose  in 
that  it  helped  somewhat  to  stimulate  a  better  educational  senti- 
ment. The  people  had  been  dissatisfied  with  the  land  provisions 


142  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  education,  and  in  1824  the  Legislature  made  complaint  to 
Congress.  The  complaint  was  accompanied  by  a  statement  in 
a  report  which  was  made  by  James  K.  Polk,  who  was  at  that 
time  one  of  Tennessee's  congressmen.  The  statement  showed 
that  the  schools  of  the  State  were  entitled  to  444,000  acres  of 
lands,  that  only  about  22,700  had  been  laid  off,  that  all  the 
good  lands  were  occupied,  and  that  the  remaining  lands  were  not 
very  valuable.  An  appeal  was  made  to  Congress  to  make  up  the 
deficiency  from  the  unoccupied  territory  of  the  congressional 
reservation,  but  no  relief  was  given.  The  subject  of  public  schools 
was  receiving  increased  attention  during  these  years,  however,  and 
there  was  promise  of  action  which  would  promote  the  cause.  In 
an  address  to  the  graduating  class  at  Cumberland  College  in 
October,  1826,  President  Phillip  Lindsley  voiced  a  growing  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  public  education  when  he  said : 

Common  schools,  then,  are  needed  in  Tennessee.  How  shall  they 
be  established?  Let  the  people  decide.  What  character  and  form 
s*hall  they  assume?  Let  every  county  be  divided  into  such  a  number 
of  school  districts  or  departments  as  will  conveniently  accommodate 
all  the  inhabitants.  Erect  comfortable  and  commodious  schoolhouses. 
Attach  to  each  schoolhouse  a  lot  of  ten  acres  of  land,  for  the  purpose 
of  healthful  exercise,  gardening,  farming,  and  the  mechanical  arts. 
For  the  body  requires  training  as  well  as  the  mind.  Besides,  as  mul- 
titudes must  live  by  manual  labor,  they  ought  betimes  to  acquire 
habits  of  industry,  economy,  temperance,  hardihood,  muscular 
strength,  skill,  and  dexterity.  [President  Lindsley  was  not  unlikely 
interested  in  the  manual-labor  school.  See  Chapter  IV.]  Employ 
teachers  to  govern  and  instruct  children  in  the  best  possible  manner. 
Pay  them  according  to  their  merit.  Pay  any  sum  necessary  to  com- 
mand the  services  of  the  best  and  most  accomplished  teachers.  Par- 
simony in  this  particular  is  not  only  impolitic ;  it  is  mean,  it  is  absurd, 
it  is  ruinous.  Better  have  no  teachers,  than  to  have  incompetent,  im- 
moral, lazy,  passionate,  or  indiscreet  ones,  however  cheaply  they  may 
be  procured.  Their  influence  will  not  be  merely  negative;  it  will  be 
positive  and  most  powerful.  I  have  often  looked  with  horror  upon 
the  kind  of  common  schools  and  teachers  to  which  thousands  of 
children,  during  several  of  their  best  years,  are  cruelly  and  wantonly 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  143 

subjected  in  the  older  States.  But  it  is  or  was  the  fashion,  in  many 
places,  to  hire  a  blockhead  or  vagabond,  because  he  would  teach  a 
child  for  a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  quarter.  Now  if  there  is 
anything  on  earth  for  which  a  parent  ought  to  feel  disposed  to  pay 
liberally,  it  is  for  the  faithful  instruction  of  his  children.  Compared 
with  this,  every  other  interest  vanishes  like  chaff  before  the  wind — 
it  is  less  than  nothing.  And  yet,  unless  the  world  has  suddenly  grown 
much  wiser,  there  is  no  service  so  grudgingly  and  pitifully  rewarded. 
The  consequence  is  what  might  have  been  expected.  Every  man  of 
cleverness  and  ambition  will  turn  his  back  with  scorn  upon  the  country 
school.  He  will  become  a  lawyer,  a  physician,  a  merchant,  a  mechanic, 
a  farmer,  or  a  farmer's  overseer,  in  preference.  Until  school-keeping 
be  made  an  honorable  and  a  lucrative  profession,  suitable  teachers  will 
never  be  forthcoming  in  this  free  country. 

In  1827  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
solidating all  school  funds  into  one  fund  to  encourage  and  sup- 
port public  schools  in  Tennessee.  Among  the  funds  appropriated 
by  this  act  for  school  purposes  were  the  proceeds  from  land  sales 
in  the  Hiawassee  District,  all  lands  previously  appropriated  in  the 
State  for  the  use  of  schools,  all  the  unappropriated  lands  to  which 
the  State  had  at  that  time  or  should  later  acquire  title,  the 
rents  and  profits  of  all  school  lands  accrued  but  unappropriated, 
the  funds  provided  for  in  the  act  of  1823,  the  proceeds  of  intestate 
estates,  and  several  other  items.  This  act  was  the  real  legal  basis 
of  the  State's  permanent  public-school  fund,  which  will  be  treated 
in  the  following  chapter.  The  act  was  defective  in  neglecting  to 
make  provisions  for  the  application  of  the  fund  thus  created,  but 
an  effort  was  made  two  years  later  to  correct  this  defect. 

By  1830  the  school  fund  was  thought  to  be  large  enough  for  be- 
ginning a  school  system,  and  legislation  was  enacted  establishing 
the  first  public-school  plan  of  the  State.  The  law  provided  that 
the  court  of  each  county  should  at  its  first  session  in  1830,  and 
every  year  thereafter,  appoint  one  commissioner  in  each  captain's 
company,  and  these  commissioners  were  to  meet  at  the  regimental 
muster  grounds  and  divide  the  "said  regiment  into  school  dis- 
tricts." In  each  district  five  trustees  were  to  be  elected  to  serve 


144  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  one  year  or  until  their  successors  were  elected.  These  local 
officers  were  to  organize  into  a  board  and  to  choose  from  among 
themselves  a  chairman,  a  clerk,  and  a  treasurer;  and  the  chair- 
men so  chosen  were  to  meet  at  the  courthouse  at  a  specified  time 
each  year  and  select  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  seven  "dis- 
creet and  intelligent"  citizens  for  county  common-school  commis- 
sioners. These  commissioners  were  to  meet  twice  a  year  and  were 
to  have  charge  of  all  school  funds.  All  interest  due  the  county 
from  the  school  fund,  the  taxes  on  school  lands  sold,  and  all  the 
other  taxes,  fines,  or  contributions  directed  by  law  to  be  paid  to 
the  county  commissioners  constituted  a  fund  for  annual  distribu- 
tion among  the  school  districts  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
children  in  each  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years. 

The  district  trustees  were  to  provide  a  comfortable  schoolhouse 
before  the  district  could  .participate  in  the  annual  distribution  of 
the  fund.  It  was  also  the  duty  of  each  local  trustee  to  "open 
and  keep  a  subscription  paper  and  solicit  and  receive  donations 
which  shall  be  appropriated  to  the  school  of  the  district."  The 
local  trustees  were  to  employ  teachers  and  to  "judge  of  their 
qualifications,  capacity,  and  character,"  and  to  report  annually 
to  the  county  school  commissioners  the  teacher's  salary,  the  school 
term,  the  enrollment,  the  subjects  taught,  "and  the  average  price 
given  for  tuition  each  month  per  scholar."  The  trustees  were  also 
authorized  to  induce  all  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and 
fifteen  years  to  be  sent  to  school,  "and  no  distinction  shall  be 
made  between  rich  and  poor,  but  said  school  shall  be  open  and 
free  to  all."  The  trustees  were  to  have  "full  power  to  guard  the 
morals,  manners,  and  habits  of  the  scholars"  and  to  expel  any 
scholar  when  in  their  opinion  "the  good  of  the  school  requires  it." 
Authority  was  also  given  the  trustees  of  any  district  which  was  not 
able  to  continue  a  school  for  the  entire  year  to  arrange  to  keep  it 
open  at  "the  most  leisure  season  of  the  year,  and  at  such  time 
as  will  be  most  convenient  for  the  children  of  the  neighborhood 
to  go  to  school."  The  county  school  commissioners  were  required 
to  visit  the  schools  at  least  once  a  year  and  "examine  into  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  145 

situation  and  condition  of  said  schools,  and  the  progress  the 
scholars  are  making,  and  the  branches  taught."  They  were  al- 
lowed also  to  appropriate  twenty  dollars  a  year  from  the  school 
fund  for  purchasing  schoolbooks  and  writing  materials  for  the 
children  of  poor  parents. 

In  a  measure  the  provisions  of  this  law  were  more  or  less  ad- 
vanced for  the  time.  However,  the  act  was  defective  in  at  least 
two  points :  in  its  failure  to  provide  for  stimulating  local  initiative 
in  the  matter  of  school  support  and  in  the  provision  that  books 
should  be  furnished  poor  children.  This  element  of  charity  en- 
gendered prejudice  against  schools  supported  at  state  expense — an 
attitude  which  persisted  for  decades  and  did  not  entirely  disappear 
until  many  years  after  the  Civil  War.  The  system  established 
in  1830  underwent  many  modifications  and  several  improvements 
before  1860,  however,  and  by  that  date  contained  several  features 
of  an  adequate  public-school  plan.  The  actual  operation  of  the 
system  from  1830  to  1860  will  be  discussed  in  another  chapter. 

North  Carolina  incorporated  provisions  for  education  in  the 
original  constitution  of  that  State  in  1776.  The  university  was 
established  in  1789  and  organized  six  years  later,  but  with  this 
exception  no  legislation  was  enacted  in  behalf  of  public  education 
until  1825,  when  the  literary  fund  was  created.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  this  act  it  was  nearly  fifty  years  from  the  organization 
of  the  university  to  the  passage  of  the  first  public-school  law  in 
1839.  North  Carolina,  therefore,  was  the  last  of  the  older  South- 
ern States  to  enact  a  public-school  law. 

There  were  many  conditions  which  prevented  an  earlier  obedi- 
ence to  the  educational  mandate  of  the  constitution.  Leaders  in 
the  State  believed  in  the  civilizing  influences  of  schools  and  col- 
leges, but  the  terms  of  the  constitution  itself  were  more  or  less 
uncertain  and  variously  interpreted  by  those  who  really  had  an 
earnest  interest  in  promoting  the  cause  of  public  schools.  To  some 
the  constitutional  provision  meant  that  the  Legislature  should 
establish  public  free  schools  and  provide  for  their  maintenance  by 
state  taxation,  while  others  believed  that  it  was  intended  to  give 


146  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

authority  for  legislative  aid  to  private  schools  and  academies. 
This  latter  interpretation  was  so  general  that  frequent  petitions 
were  presented  to  the  Legislature  for  the  aid  of  such  schools,  but 
they  were  invariably  refused;  and  in  1803  a  bill  for  establishing 
an  academy  in  each  district,  to  be  maintained  by  the  public,  was 
also  defeated.  Another  condition  which  hindered  legislative  ac- 
tion was  the  fear  of  taxation,  inherited  perhaps  from  colonial 
days.  Taxation,  it  was  argued,  was  designed  in  a  republican 
form  of  government  to  defray  its  legitimate  and  necessary  ex- 
penses, and  the  less  the  tax  the  more  ideal  the  government.  Such 
a  theory  naturally  stifled  the  proper  conception  of  education  in 
a  democracy.  Moreover,  the  intrusion  of  the  State  into  the 
parental  obligation  was  considered  by  some  as  dangerous  and 
agrarian.  To  others  the  element  of  charity  read  into  a  public- 
school  system  seemed  humiliating — an  attitude  which  cooled  local 
pride  and  community  patriotism.  Besides,  lack  of  communication 
between  the  eastern  and  western  counties  produced  sectional 
jealousies  which  unhappily  prevented  the  development  of  a  com- 
mon educational  interest.  The  entire  absence  of  proper  qualifi- 
cations and  a  resulting  lack  of  professional  spirit  among  the 
teachers  of  the  State  also  delayed  the  beginnings  of  a  movement 
for  popular  education.  Compared  with  many  other  pursuits, 
teaching  was  popularly  considered  contemptible. 

Agitation  of  a  movement  for  public  schools,  however,  began 
early  after  the  opening  of  the  national  period.  From  1802  to  the 
passage  of  the  first  school  law  the  various  governors  and  other 
leaders  urged  the  Legislature  to  obey  the  constitutional  require- 
ment and  to  provide  educational  facilities  for  the  masses  of  the 
people.  In  1804  Governor  James  Turner  advocated  public  tax- 
ation for  school  support  and  urged  the  introduction  of  a  school 
system  which  would  "extend  itself  to  every  corner  of  the  State." 
In  1815  Governor  Miller,  like  his  predecessors,  urged  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  school  system  and  said  that  it  was  "under  the 
hand  of  legislative  patronage  alone  that  the  temple  of  science 
can  be  thrown  open  to  all."  Beyond  referring  the  executive 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  147 

recommendation  to  a  joint  committee  of  the  body,  however,  which 
was  the  first  committee  on  the  subject  of  education  appointed  in 
the  Legislature  of  the  State,  no  action  was  taken.  The  following 
year  the  same  executive  called  attention  to  the  subject  again  and 
recommended  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  school  fund: 
"The  example  set  in  a  neighboring  State,  in  establishing  funds  for 
the  advancement  of  literature  and  internal  improvements,  seems 
well  worthy  of  imitation."1 

That  part  of  the  governor's  message  was  referred  to  a  commit- 
tee, of  which  Archibald  D.  Murphey  was  named  chairman,  and  the 
result  of  the  committee's  work  was  a  report,  written  by  Murphey, 
in  which  the  democratic  theory  of  education  was  thoroughly 
elaborated.  The  report  pointed  out  that  the  education  of  the 
youth  of  the  State  was  then  left  to  chance  and  that  thousands 
of  children  were  growing  up  in  ignorance.  It  urged  that  the 
strength  of  the  State  resided  in  its  people,  who  should  be 
educated  at  public  expense  without  distinction  of  class,  and 
stated  that  the  Legislature  was  amply  able  to  appropriate  half  a 
million  dollars  for  maintaining  a  general  system  of  schools.  In 
conclusion  Murphey  recommended  the  appointment  of  a  legislative 
committee  of  three  to  digest  a  system  of  education  based  on  the 
general  principles  of  the  report  and  to  report  it  to  the  next  session 
of  the  Legislature.  Murphey  was  again  appointed  chairman  of  the 
committee,  and  in  November,  1817,  presented  to  the  Legislature 
the  report  which  gave  him  the  name  of  the  "father  of  the  public 
schools  of  North  Carolina." 

The  report  was  significant  in  that  it  marked  the  dawn  of  a  new 
educational  era  for  North  Carolina  and  became  the  basis  of  the 
school  system  which  was  inaugurated  in  1839.  It  was  presented 
after  a  careful  study  of  the  best  systems  of  education  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe  and  embodied  the  best  of  the  practicable 
features  revealed  by  the  investigation.  The  proposed  system 
was  to  include  a  literary  fund ;  a  state  board  of  education  to  man- 
age the  fund  and  to  have  supervision  over  the  schools ;  provision 

1  Virginia  had  established  a  literary  fund  in  1810. 


148  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  a  state  university,  academies,  and  primary  schools,  their 
organization  and  administration ;  and  provision  for  the  education 
of  the  poor  and  for  an  asylum  for  the  deaf  and  dumb.  The 
plan  considered  primary  schools  of  first  importance. 

Although  somewhat  advanced  for  the  time  the  report  did  not 
fully  accept  the  democratic  theory  of  education.  Its  recom- 
mendation of  provisions  for  the  education  of  the  poor  reflects 
an  attitude  which  was  prevalent  even  among  the  most  public- 
spirited  men  of  the  period: 

One  of  the  strongest  reasons  which  we  can  have  for  establishing  a 
general  plan  of  public  instruction,  is  the  condition  of  the  poor  chil- 
dren of  our  country.  Such  has  always  been  and  probably  always  will 
be  the  allotment  of  human  life,  that  the  poor  will  form  a  large  por- 
tion of  every  community ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  those  who  manage  the 
affairs  of  a  State  to  extend  relief  to  this  unfortunate  part  of  our 
species  in  every  way  in  their  power. 

The  proposed  plan  met  the  hearty  support  of  the  Legislature, 
which  prepared  and  presented  a  bill  based  on  the  recommenda- 
tions. But  the  impracticable  feature  of  attempting  to  maintain 
as  well  as  to  educate  the  children  of  the  poor,  and  the  burdens 
of  the  war  debt  of  1812,  were  among  the  factors  combining  to 
defeat  the  scheme,  which  embraced  the  profoundest  and  most 
comprehensive  educational  wisdom  ever  presented  for  the  con- 
sideration of  a  North  Carolina  Legislature.  The  friends  of  the 
proposed  plan  were  unwilling  to  eliminate  the  impracticable  fea- 
ture, and  legislative  enactment  of  the  bill  proved  an  impossibility. 

Although  this  attempt  to  establish  schools  failed,  agitation  of 
the  subject  did  not  cease.  Governor  Branch,  in  his  message  to 
the  Legislature  in  1818,  referred  especially  to  the  "solemn  in- 
junction" of  the  constitution  and  reminded  that  body  that  "by 
this  chart  we  are  bound,  as  the  servants  of  the  people  under  the 
solemnities  of  an  oath,  to  steer  the  vessel  of  State."  At  that 
session  of  the  Legislature  efforts  were  again  made  to  establish 
a  school  system  in  the  State.  The  proposed  law  empowered  the 
county  courts  to  appoint  "five  persons  of  competent  skill  and 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  149 

ability"  to  have  direction  of  school  affairs  in  the  various  counties. 
Three  local  trustees,  to  be  appointed  by  these  county  directors, 
were  to  employ  the  teacher  and  "designate  such  poor  children 
in  their  neighborhood  as  they  shall  think  ought  to  be  taught  free 
of  any  charge."  These  poor  children  were  also  to  receive  free 
books  and  stationery.  The  expenses  of  the  schools  were  to  be 
borne  by  a  property  tax  of  ten  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars' 
valuation  and  a  capitation  tax  of  fifty  cents,  to  be  levied  in  each 
county.  Each  teacher  was  to  be  paid  an  annual  salary  of  one 
hundred  dollars  from  the  county  funds  and  also  receive  two 
thirds  of  the  money  collected  from  tuition.  The  bill  passed  its 
first  reading  in  both  Houses  and  passed  its  second  reading  in  the 
Senate  by  a  large  vote,  but  on  its  second  reading  in  the  House  it 
was  postponed  indefinitely. 

In  1819  and  in  1822  the  matter  of  education  was  again  before 
the  Legislature.  In  the  latter  year  Governor  Gabriel  Holmes 
urged  legislative  obedience  to  the  injunction  of  the  constitution 
to  establish  schools  and  said:  "I  fear,  gentlemen,  if  those 
venerable  fathers  were  to  rise  from  their  tombs,  they  would 
reproach  us  with  supineness  and  neglect,  and  would  not  listen  to 
our  plea  of  want  of  power.  We  shall  never  know  what  power  we 
have  until  we  exert  it."  In  1824  an  attempt  to  create  a  perma- 
nent fund  for  school  purposes  failed  by  vote  in  the  lower  branch 
of  the  Legislature.  The  proposed  plan  looked  principally  to 
making  provision  for  the  education  of  the  poor  children  of  the 
State.  The  following  year  further  effort  was  made,  and  interest 
in  a  plan  for  schools  was  widespread.  At  that  time  Governor 
Burton  declared  that  education  was  more  important  than  internal 
improvements,  a  subject  which  had  largely  absorbed  legislative 
consideration  for  nearly  a  decade.  A  plan  for  a  general  system 
of  schools,  in  most  respects  similar  to  previous  plans  suggested, 
was  reported.  Its  most  interesting  feature,  however,  was  the 
provision  for  taxation  for  school  support,  and  this  meant  im- 
mediate death  to  the  plan.  A  few  days  later  an  attempt  was  made 
to  create  a  school  fund  by  means  of  a  lottery,  but  this  likewise  met 


150  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

defeat.  Finally,  a  bill,  which  was  drawn  by  Bartlett  Yancey,  a 
former  student  of  law  under  Murphey,  was  presented  to  the  Senate 
and  provided  for  establishing  a  permanent  public  endowment  for 
school  support.  It  passed  regularly  through  the  usual  channels 
of  legislation  and  became  law  without  a  division  in  either  House 
of  the  Legislature. 

The  adoption  of  a  constitutional  provision  for  schools  was  the 
first  victory  for  education  in  North  Carolina.  A  more  signal 
victory  was  won,  however,  with  the  enactment  of  legislation  cre- 
ating a  school  fund,  and  with  it  the  initial  step  was  taken  by 
the  Legislature  in  obedience  to  the  constitutional  mandate. 
Hostility  to  increased  taxation  had  been  intense,  and  the  passage 
of  a  measure  calling  for  local  or  county  taxation  for  school  sup- 
port would  have  been  impossible.  If  schools  were  to  be  created, 
provision  for  their  maintenance  had  to  be  sought  in  other  ways 
than  by  taxation,  and  the  creation  of  a  permanent  public  fund 
from  the  income  of  which  schools  were  to  receive  aid  seemed 
the  only  satisfactory  plan.  This  method  of  school  support  had 
already  been  adopted  in  several  other  States. 

No  legislation  of  special  educational  importance  was  'enacted 
during  the  next  ten  years,  though  the  subject  of  schools  continued 
to  be  agitated,  and  repeated  efforts  were  made  to  secure  educa- 
tional improvement.  During  these  years  of  fruitless  effort  the 
population  of  the  State  was  increasing,  with  the  result  that  the 
children  of  the  masses  were  growing  up  in  ignorance.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  voice  to  speak  out  and  to  point  the  way  to  correct 
educational  action.  Sentiment  for  public  education  was  also  de- 
veloping and  expressing  itself.  Surprise  was  frequently  expressed 
in  the  press  of  the  State  and  elsewhere  "that  a  subject  so  inter- 
esting to  every  philanthropist,  so  superlatively  important  in  a 
political  point  of  view,  and  so  loudly  and  imperiously  demanded 
by  existing  circumstances  in  our  State,  should  have  continued  so 
long  without  attracting  the  special  attention  and  engaging  the 
active  exertions  of  our  Legislature.  .  .  .  The  dullness  and  in- 
capacity which  is  permitted  to  enter  our  legislative  hall,  and 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  151 

disgraces  us  even  in  the  national  representation  .  .  .  evinces  most 
unequivocally  the  mental  debasement  of  a  large  portion  of  our 
population." 

The  education  of  the  masses  was  believed  to  be  the  only  correct 
basis  of  agricultural  and  commercial  prosperity  and  the  surest 
guaranty  of  liberty.  Dr.  Joseph  Caldwell,  president  of  the  state 
university,  said,  in  an  address  before  a  convention  in  Raleigh  in 
1829,  that  the  State  was  three  centuries  behind  in  education,  the 
chief  cause  of  which  he  declared  to  be  the  "fatal  delusion"  that 
"taxation  is  contrary  to  the  genius  of  a  republican  government." 
The  following  year  Governor  Owen  attacked  the  State's  so-called 
policy  of  economy  as  fit  only  to  keep  "the  poor  in  ignorance  and 
the  State  in  poverty."  And  in  1833  Governor  Swain  spoke  of  the 
"apathy  which  has  pervaded  the  legislation  of  half  a  century."1 

There  were  a  few  evidences  of  a  growing  sentiment  in  favor 
of  education,  however,  in  the  thirties.  One  appeared  in  a  move- 
ment to  organize  the  teachers  of  the  State  through  the  formation  in 
1832  of  "The  North  Carolina  Institute  of  Education."  Two  an- 
nual sessions  of  this  organization  were  held  in  the  interest  of 
schools.  Public  interest  during  this  time  was  also  stimulated  by 
the  well-known  letters  on  popular  education  addressed  to  the 
people  of  the  State  by  President  Caldwell  of  the  state  university. 
These  letters  were  eleven  in  number  and  were  the  result  of  the 
work  of  a  standing  legislative  committee  appointed  several  years 
before  for  the  purpose  of  studying  conditions  in  the  State  with  a 
view  to  improvement.  The  committee  never  met,  but  the  letters 
of  Caldwell  thoroughly  embodied  that  educator's  views  on  the 
subject  of  public  education  and  created  a  wholesome  interest  in 
the  cause.  They  pointed  out  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  educa- 
tional advancement,  suggested  plans  for  overcoming  the  State's 
educational  backwardness,  discussed  the  usual  methods  of  school 
support,  remarked  freely  on  educational  practices  in  the  State, 
discussed  the  public-school  systems  of  other  States,  and  pointed 
out  those  features  which  would  be  practicable  for  conditions  in 

1  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  vii. 


152  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

North  Carolina.  Provision  for  training  teachers  was  regarded 
as  a  necessary  feature  of  any  system  which  the  State  should 
adopt,  and  a  thorough  plan  for  a  school  in  which  such  provision 
could  be  made  was  considered  in  detail.  The  demand  for  schools 
would  then  increase  and  "the  walls  that  shut  in  our  people  from 
the  light  of  day"  would  be  broken  down.1 

Certain  social  and  economic  conditions  during  these  years  had 
produced  a  general  feeling  of  uncertainty  and  depression,  with  the 
result  that  progressive  policies  of  internal  improvements  and  edu- 
cation were  difficult  to  formulate  and  execute.  These  conditions 
had  variously  revealed  themselves.  In  1790  the  State  ranked 
third  in  population  among  the  states  of  the  Union,  ten  years 
later  it  had  declined  to  fourth  place,  and  by  1830  to  fifth. 
Moreover,  the  value  of  lands  was  on  the  decrease.  In  1815  land 
values  were  greater  than  in  1833,  although  a  million  acres  had 
been  entered  by  the  latter  date.  Slaves  were  increasing  faster  than 
the  white  population;  emigration  continued  a  persistent  and 
alarming  problem,  thousands  of  people  leaving  the  State  every 
year  in  search  of  better  opportunities;  and  the  want  of  better 
commercial  interests  closed  the  avenue  of  trade  to  a  people  almost 
entirely  agricultural,  proving  a  most  serious  impediment  to  social 
progress.  The  report  of  the  committee  on  internal  improvements 
in  1833  recited  many  of  these  conditions  and  discussed  the  in- 
auguration of  a  policy  by  which  the  evils  which  resulted  from 
the  previous  policy  of  the  State  could  be  cured. 

During  the  next  few  years  the  subject  of  schools  continued 
to  be  agitated.  The  literary  fund  was  not  considered  large 
enough  to  support  an  adequate  school  plan  for  the  State.  Several 
suggestions  were  made  through  committee  reports  and  legislative 
resolutions,  but  proposed  legislation  was  defeated.  At  the  session 
of  the  Legislature  in  1836-1837  a  memorial  was  presented  from 

1  These  letters  appeared  in  the  Raleigh  Register  in  1830  and  are  given 
in  full  in  Coon's  "Public  Education  in  North  Carolina,  1790-1840.  A  Docu- 
mentary History."  Copious  extracts  from  them  may  also  be  found  in  the 
author's  "Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,"  chap.  vii. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  153 

citizens  of  Fayetteville,  who  "witnessed  with  pain  and  mortifica- 
tion the  depressed  condition  which  each  section  of  our  State 
presents,  when  compared  with  that  of  her  sisters  of  our  happy 
Union";  and  Governor  Dudley,  in  his  inaugural  address,  said: 

As  a  State,  we  stand  fifth  in  population,  first  in  climate,  equal  in 
soil,  minerals,  and  ores,  with  superior  advantages  for  manufacturing 
and  with  a  hardy,  industrious,  and  economical  people.  Yet  with  such 
unequaled  natural  facilities,  we  are  actually  least  in  the  scale  of  rela- 
tive wealth  and  enterprise,  and  our  condition  daily  becoming  worse — 
lands  depressed  in  price,  fallow  and  deserted — manufacturing  ad- 
vantages unimproved — our  stores  of  mineral  wealth  undisturbed, 
and  our  colleges  and  schools  languishing  from  neglect.  .  .  . 

It  was  said  that  there  were  then  in  the  State  fully  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen 
who  were  "destitute  of  a  common-school  education.  In  some  parts 
of  the  State  many  large  families  are  found  not  one  of  whom, 
parents  or  children,  can  read  their  alphabet ;  and  in  others  whole 
neighborhoods  of  forty  or  fifty  families  exist,  among  whom  but 
few  individuals  can  read  their  Bible."  From  press  and  pulpit  the 
need  for  schools  and  increased  facilities  for  education  was  being 
discussed,  and  the  whole  subject  was  becoming  more  and  more 
absorbing  in  its  interest. 

Several  important  educational  steps  were  taken  at  this  session 
of  the  Legislature.  One  of  these  was  the  plan  adopted  for  dis- 
posing of  the  surplus  revenue  distributed  by  act  of  Congress  in 
1836;  another  was  the  passage  of  a  law  which  vested  certain 
swamp  lands  in  the  literary  board  and  appropriated  the  sum  of 
$200,000  for  their  drainage  and  improvement;  and  still  another, 
equal  in  importance  to  these,  was  the  direction  given  to  the  lit- 
erary board  to  digest  a  plan  for  a  State  school  system  and  to 
report  the  following  year.  The  principal  of  the  literary  fund  was 
thus  greatly  increased,  with  a  resulting  expansion  of  its  revenues. 
The  share  of  North  Carolina  in  the  surplus  revenue  from  the 
Federal  Government  amounted  to  $1,433,757.40,  all  of  which  was 


154  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

eventually  applied  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  cause  of  education. 
In  this  way  the  literary  fund  was  increased  to  nearly  two  million 
dollars,  and  steps  were  at  once  begun  for  launching  a  system  of 
public  schools. 

In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1838  Governor  Dudley 
urged  the  establishment  of  a  school  system  and  the  employment 
of  a  state  superintendent.  Several  resolutions  were  passed  in 
favor  of  the  subject  early  in  the  session,  and  the  literary  board, 
in  accordance  with  instructions  of  the  preceding  Legislature,  sub- 
mitted a  plan  for  a  school  system.  The  report  of  the  board  was 
extensive  and  detailed  and  suggested  provisions  for  common 
schools  "suited  to  the  conditions  and  resources  of  the  State." 
On  this  report  the  first  public-school  law  of  the  State  was  ratified, 
January  8,  1839,  and  became  the  basis  of  a  creditable  ante-bellum 
educational  system. 

The  law  provided  for  an  election  in  every  election  precinct  in 
the  State  to  ascertain  the  voice  of  the  people  on  the  subject  of 
schools  and  on  raising  by  local  taxation  one  half  the  amount  to  be 
given  by  the  literary  fund  for  school  support.  Boards  of  school 
superintendents,  from  five  to  ten  in  number,  were  to  be  elected  by 
the  county  courts  for  those  counties  which  voted  for  schools.  Each 
board  so  elected  was  to  organize  and  to  divide  its  county  into 
school  districts  and  to  appoint  local  trustees  for  each  district.  The 
county  court  was  required  to  levy  a  tax  of  twenty  dollars  for  each 
district  which  voted  for  schools,  in  the  same  manner  that  other 
taxes  were  levied  for  county  purposes.  This  amount  was  to  be 
doubled  by  an  appropriation  from  the  income  of  the  literary  fund. 
The  local  district  was  required  to  erect  a  schoolhouse  sufficient  to 
accommodate  fifty  children  and  to  levy  the  local  tax  before  it 
could  receive  this  appropriation. 

An  educational  campaign  which  revealed  a  widespread  and 
wholesome  sentiment  in  favor  of  schools  was  waged  in  the  spring 
and  the  summer  of  1839.  The  subject  was  discussed  by  pub- 
lic leaders  and  the  friends  of  education,  and  the  press  of  the 
State  generally  urged  the  school  tax  provided  for  in  the  law.  The 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  155 

election  was  held  in  August,  and  a  majority  of  the  counties 
adopted  the  plan,  approving  the  principle  of  school  support  by  a 
combination  of  local  taxation  and  the  income  from  the  literary 
fund.  The  plan  failed  in  seven  counties,  however,  four  in  the  west- 
ern and  three  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State.  But  the  long 
agitation  for  schools  had  passed,  and  the  State  was  now  ready 
to  begin  a  noteworthy  educational  career.1  The  operation  of  the 
system  from  1840  to  1860  will  be  treated  in  another  chapter. 

From  this  brief  and  general  study  of  early  educational  effort 
in  the  older  Southern  States  two  important  questions  at  once 
suggest  themselves:  Why  were  these  States  only  partially  com- 
mitted to  the  principle  of  equality  of  general  educational  oppor- 
tunity and  slow  to  make  adequate  school  provision  for  the  children 
of  all  the  people?  and  Why  were  the  early  school  laws  in  these 
States  so  permissive  and  vague  and  the  school  plans  set  up  on 
them  so  defective? 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  immediately  important 
changes  which  appeared  with  the  War  for  Independence  were 
largely  political,  that  many  of  these  were  at  first  theoretical  only, 
and  that  corresponding  social  changes  did  not  appear  promptly. 
In  many  ways  the  people  continued  to  live  and  to  work  as 
formerly.  They  continued  to  be  absorbed  in  satisfying  material 
needs.  For  many  years  following  the  war  many  of  them  lived 
under  primitive  frontier  conditions.  For  a  long  time  there  was  a 
lack  of  easy  means  of  communication,  the  population  continued 
sparse,  and  lack  of  the  township  government  system  such  as  pre- 
vailed in  New  England  denied  to  the  people  wide,  direct,  and 
close  participation  in  local  affairs.  The  average  man  was  not  able 
to  express  his  opinion  or  desire  on  local  community  needs  and 
interests  such  as  schools,  as  he  is  permitted  to  do  today.  And, 
then,  as  now,  the  successful  promotion  of  public  schools  depended 
on  a  wholesome  social  consciousness,  which  has  always  depended 
for  development  of  the  right  and  the  opportunity  of  the  individual 
to  express  opinion  and  desire  on  social  needs.  Without  these 

1  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  viii. 


156  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

privileges  a  sound  sense  of  the  common  welfare  cannot  be  created 
and  developed.  Moreover,  for  several  decades  following  the  war 
the  political  leaders  were  responsible  for  new  and  increasing 
governmental  affairs  and  were  thus  kept  busy  with  duties  and 
interests  which  were  immediately  pressing  and  seemed  more  im- 
portant than  schools. 

The  religious  motive  for  schools  as  an  individual  necessity  was 
slow  to  give  place  during  the  early  years  of  national  life  to  the 
political  motive,  which,  hi  theory  at  least,  had  been  given  force 
by  the  declarations  that  men  are  created  equal  and  endowed  with 
"certain  inalienable  rights."  The  principle  of  equal  political  op- 
portunity among  men  was  in  time  to  be  accompanied  by  the  closely 
related  principle  of  equal  educational  opportunity.  But  this  com- 
panion principle  was  slow  to  appear  in  practice.  Education,  there- 
fore, was  to  be  looked  upon  for  some  time  not  primarily  as  a  public 
concern  but  as  a  private  interest.  There  remained  wide  confi- 
dence in  private  schools  among  the  more  prosperous  part  of  the 
people,  and  among  the  less  prosperous  part  there  was  contempt  for 
"free"  education  because  it  smacked  of  charity.  It  was  to  be 
many  years,  therefore,  before  the  principle  of  educational  oppor- 
tunity, equal  and  free  to  all,  should  gain  wide  and  full  acceptance. 
The  practical  application  of  Jefferson's  theories  on  education  was 
not  to  be  gained  rapidly  or  to  meet  with  full  recognition  promptly. 
And  at  best  it  was  only  natural  that  in  the  South  early  school  laws 
and  the  school  plans  set  up  by  them  were  to  be  colored  largely  by 
an  aristocratic  conception  which  was  out  of  harmony  with  the 
promising  and  hopeful  principles  of  equality  declared  in  1776. 
In  these  conditions  may  be  found  the  causes  which  delayed  the 
rapid  and  wholesome  growth  of  public-school  education  in  the 
older  Southern  States. 

Hopeful  beginnings  had  been  made,  however,  in  these  States  by 
the  dawn  of  the  so-called  American  educational  renaissance  in  the 
thirties.  Permanent  public-school  endowments  were  created  in 
all  of  them  except  South  Carolina,  and  in  all  some  form  of  educa- 
tional legislation  was  enacted.  Most  of  such  legislation  was 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  157 

defective  in  principle,  however,  and  provided  for  school  systems 
which  were  defective  in  plan  and  organization.  But  generally 
throughout  the  South  during  the  half  century  following  inde- 
pendence there  appeared  genuine  interest  in  schools  as  a  public 
necessity.  Hope  was  thus  reflected  for  the  average  man  and 
his  children  not  only  in  political  but  in  educational  and  social 
matters.  Gradually  new  demands  were  made  for  provision  to 
educate  the  common  people,  because  a  free  government  required 
free  schools  for  its  success.  If  liberty  and  security  were  to  be 
preserved  a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  was  necessary.  Public 
opinion  needed  to  be  enlightened,  and  this  could  be  done  only 
through  education  afforded  the  masses  of  the  people. 

Early  efforts  to  these  ends  were  naturally  crude  and  im- 
perfect. In  the  main  educational  legislation  contained  the  element 
of  charity  which  persisted  as  a  retarding  influence  in  the  South 
for  many  decades.  Through  it  class  distinctions  were  recog- 
nized, and  a  powerful  prejudice  was  thus  created  against  public 
schools.  The  right  of  local  initiative  was  not  generally  estab- 
lished and,  except  in  North  Carolina,  no  provision  was  made  for 
stimulating  local  enterprise  and  community  patriotism  by  requir- 
ing some  form  of  local  taxation  for  school  support.  For  a  be- 
ginning had  been  made,  feeble  though  it  was;  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  revival  during  the  second  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century  notable  improvement  in  public  education  was 
to  be  made.  This  was  to  be  promoted  also  by  the  influence 
of  permanent  public-school  endowments,  which  will  be  treated 
in  the  following  chapter. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Trace  the  growth  of  education  as  a  concern  of  the  government 
in  your  State. 

2.  What  educational  influence  appeared  in  your  State  as  a  result 
of  the  American  Revolution? 

3.  Why  did  the  conception  of  education  as  a  private  or  religious 
obligation  persist  after  the  organization  of  the  national  government? 


158  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Explain  why  a  wholesome  educational  consciousness  depended  on  the 
growth  of  a  keen  national  consciousness. 

4.  (a)    Make    a    study    of    Jefferson's    educational    philosophy. 
(6)  What  were  its  strong  points  ?    (c)  In  what  way  or  ways  were  his 
school  plans  defective?    (d)  Explain  the  fact  that  although  Jefferson 
conceived  education  as  an  obligation  and  proper  function  of  the  gov- 
ernment, he  adhered  to  the  principle  of  local  control  rather  than  to 
that  of  control  by  the  State,    (e)  What  lessons  have  his  theories  of 
educational  control  for  those  interested  in  public  education  today? 

5.  What  arguments  for  public  education  were  made  by  the  political 
leaders  during  the  early  years  of  the  national  period  ?    Compare  those 
arguments  with  the  arguments  advanced  today  for  an  extension  of 
public  educational  effort. 

6.  Make  a  study  of  the  constitutional  and  legal  provisions  for 
education  in  your  State.   Trace  the  changing  conception  of  education 
as  shown  by  the  messages  of  the  governors  and  expressions  of  private 
individuals  and  of  the  press. 

7.  Why  were  the  Southern  States  slow  to  make  adequate  provision 
for  the  public  education  of  all  the  people?   Point  out  the  educational 
influence  of  economic,  social,  and  political  conditions  of  the  South 
during  the  first  forty  years  of  national  life. 

8.  What  effect  did  the  tendency  toward  religious  freedom  have  on 
public   education  in  the  early  national  period?    Explain   the   larger 
interest  in  secondary  schools  and  colleges  than  in  elementary-school 
systems  in  the  South  during  the  first  three  or  four  decades  following 
independence. 

9.  Make  a  study  of  the  various  conditions  which  affected  public 
education  during  the  early  years  of  our  national  life  and  contrast  them 
with  conditions  today. 

10.  Explain  how  the  element  of  charity  became  attached  to  the 
early  educational  efforts  of  the  various  Southern  States.   To  what 
extent  has  your  State  fully  accepted  in  practice  the  principle  of  equality 
of  educational  opportunity  for  all  the  people? 

11.  Make  a  study  of  any  educational  leaders  in  your  State  prior  to 
1835  and  account  for  their  positions  on  the  subject  of  public-school 
support.   How  much  were  their  views  influenced  by  local  political  mat- 
ters?  Explain  the  sectional  jealousies  that  grew  up  in  most  of  the 
older  States. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  THE  OLDER  STATES  159 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  ADAMS,  Thomas  Jefferson 
and  the  University  of  Virginia.  Washington,  1888.  BARNARD,  The  American 
Journal  of  Education,  30  vols.  Hartford,  1855-1881.  BOONE,  Education  in 
the  United  States.  New  York,  1893.  CALVIN,  Popular  Education  in  Georgia. 
Augusta,  1870.  CARLTON,  Economic  Influences  upon  Educational  Progress 
in  the  United  States.  Madison,  Wisconsin,  1908.  Circulars  of  information, 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education :  BLACKMAR,  History  of  Federal  and 
State  Aid  to  Higher  Education  in  the  United  States  (Washington,  1890)  ; 
JONES,  Education  in  Georgia  (Washington,  1889)  ;  MERIWETHER,  History  of 
Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina  (Washington,  1899)  >  MERRIAM, 
Higher  Education  in  Tennessee  (Washington,  1893)  ;  SMITH,  The  His- 
tory of  Education  in  North  Carolina  (Washington,  1888).  COON,  Public 
Education  in  North  Carolina,  1790-1840.  A  Documentary  History,  2  vols. 
Raleigh,  1908.  DEXTER,  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States.  New 
York,  1904.  ECKENRODE,  The  Separation  of  the  Church  and  State  in  Vir- 
ginia. Richmond,  1910.  GARRETT,  "Education  in  the  South,"  in  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Department  of  Superintendence  of  the  N.  E.  A.  Washington, 
1889.  HEATWOLE,  A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916. 
Journals  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  KNIGHT,  Public  School 
Education  in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.  LEWIS,  Report  on  Public 
Education  in  Georgia.  Milledgeville,  1860.  MADDOX,  The  Free  School  Idea 
in  Virginia  before  the  Civil  War.  New  York,  1918.  MILLS,  Statistics  of 
South  Carolina.  Charleston,  1826.  PHELAN,  History  of  Tennessee.  Boston, 
1889.  POORE,  The  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  2  vols.  Washington, 
1877.  Public  Documents  of  the  various  States.  SHERWOOD,  A  Gazetteer  of 
the  State  of  Georgia.  Washington,  1837.  WEEKS,  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley 
and  the  Organization  of  the  Common  Schools  of  North  Carolina.  Wash- 
ington, 1898.  WEEKS,  Public  School  Education  in  Tennessee  (examined  in 
manuscript).  WHITE,  Historical  Sketches  of  Georgia.  New  York,  1854. 
WHITNEY,  The  Land  Laws  of  Tennessee.  Chattanooga,  1891.  WHITAKER, 
"The  Public  School  System  of  Tennessee,  1834-1860,"  in  Tennessee  His- 
torical Magazine,  Vol.  II,  No.  i. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  In  spite  of  indifference  and  open  hos- 
tility the  free-school  idea  has  grown  until  it  is  today  generally  accepted 
as  sound. 

2.  Changes  in  public  sentiment  and  the  growth  of  correct  principles 
of  public  educational  endeavor  were  stimulated  in  a  measure  by  the 
creation  of  permanent  public-school  endowments. 

3.  Although  such  endowments  were  important  stimuli  to  educa- 
tional   development,    considerable    carelessness    and    mismanagement 
marked  their  early  operation. 

4.  Tennessee  was  the  first  of  the  Southern  States  to  create  a 
permanent  school  fund,  and  from  it  annual  appropriations  were  made 
for  free-school  support. 

5.  Virginia  was  the  second  Southern  State  to  establish  such  a  fund. 
It  assisted  in  supporting  schools  for  poor  children  throughout  the 
ante-bellum  period. 

6.  South  Carolina  established  no  permanent  fund  before  the  Civil 
War. 

7.  Georgia  was  the  third  Southern  State  to  establish  a  permanent 
school  endowment.    It  was  used  almost  exclusively  to  aid  the  education 
of  indigent  children. 

8.  Similar  funds  were  set  up  in  Mississippi  in  1821  and  in  North 
Carolina  in  1825. 

9.  The  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  in  1837  stimulated  public 
education  by  increasing  permanent  school  endowments. 

10.  Permanent  school  funds  were  likewise  established  in  Alabama, 
in  Arkansas,  in  Texas,  in  Florida,  and  in  Louisiana,  and  contributed 
largely  to  ante-bellum  school  support  in  those  States. 

11.  Losses  were  incurred  by  the  school  funds  in  most  of  the  South- 
ern States  before  the  Civil  War.   That  struggle  and  the  devastating 
period  of  reconstruction  which  followed  also  caused  such  funds  to 
lose  heavily.    Since  1875  most  of  the  Southern  States  have  reestab- 

160 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          161 

lished  the  funds  of  the  ante-bellum  period.  Those  funds  are  now 
more  carefully  managed  and  are  serving  to  promote  public  education 
in  a  variety  of  ways. 

The  public-school  idea  is  today  so  universally  accepted  that  it 
is  difficult  to  believe  that  it  has  developed  through  opposition 
and  struggle  or  that  any  other  educational  theory  ever  found 
widespread  support  in  so-called  democratic  communities.  But 
wholesome  sentiment  on  the  subject  of  public  education  has  under- 
gone remarkable  changes  during  the  past  century.  Early  in  the 
nineteenth  century  the  attitude  of  the  public  was  indifferent  and 
often  hostile  to  the  principle  of  public  schools  for  all  the  people. 
At  that  time  schools  and  the  means  of  education  at  state  expense 
were  rare,  and  taxation  for  educational  purposes  was  everywhere 
difficult  to  levy.  Efficient  state  supervision  and  control,  now  rap- 
idly reaching  a  desirable  form  in  the  Southern  States,  was  then 
practically  unknown ;  laws  which  were  intended  to  encourage  free 
schools  were  permissive  and  difficult  to  enforce ;  the  income  from 
endowments  created  to  assist  in  supporting  free  schools  was 
frequently  used  for  other  than  educational  purposes,  and  not  in- 
frequently the  endowment  itself  was  mismanaged  and  exploited 
for  private  ends.  Indifference,  contempt,  and  open  hostility  were 
some  of  the  obstacles  confronting  the  early  movements  for  public 
free-school  systems. 

In  spite  of  these  obstacles,  however,  the  free-school  idea  has 
gradually  developed,  and  two  important  educational  principles 
which  are  present  in  every  sound  and  adequate  public-school 
system  have  slowly  but  steadily  grown.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
democratic  principle  that  education  is  the  function  of  the  State 
rather  than  a  family  or  a  parental  obligation  and  that  the  re- 
sponsibility ot  providing  the  means  of  education  rests  primarily 
withthe~StaTgr~Tire  other  principle  is  that  the  State  nas  the 
righTahd  the  powerto  raise  by  taxation  on  the  property  of  its 
members  sufficient  funds  for  adequate  school  support.  Both  of 
these  principles  are  now  generally  accepted  in  all  the  Southern 
States,  though  here  as  elsewhere  they  have  won  acceptance  in  the 


1 62  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

face  of  such  bitter  opposition  and  cold  indifference  that  their 
period  of  intense  struggle  is  now  not  only  difficult  to  recount  but 
even  more  difficult,  perhaps,  to  realize. 

This  change  in  sentiment  and  the  growth  of  these  important 
educational  principles  were  in  a  measure  produced  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  permanent  public-school  endowments,  popularly 
known  as  "literary"  or  "school"  funds,  the  income  from  which 
was  designed  for  public-school  support.  This  form  of  public  edu- 
cational support  assisted  in  fostering  and  encouraging  the  growth 
of  the  present  conception  of  education  as  a  public  concern  and 
duty,  and  in  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union  the  public-school 
system  was  begun  and  set  in  motion  by  this  method  of  financial 
support.  Moreover,  no  feature  of  the  public-school  systems  of 
the  United  States  has  rendered  greater  or  more  lasting  service  than 
permanent  public-school  endowments  in  destroying  opposition  to 
taxation  for  school  purposes,  in  developing  a  wholesome  educa- 
tional sentiment,  and  in  stimulating  local  initiative  and  com- 
munity enterprise.  Historically,  therefore,  the  origin,  development, 
and  influence  of  public-school  funds  have  a  place  in  any  account 
of  educational  growth  in  this  country. 

Several  purposes  or  incentives  led  to  the  establishment  of 
permanent  endowments  for  public  schools.  Notwithstanding  the 
conditions  which  early  opposed  free  schools,  public  sentiment 
was  never  unanimous  against  them.  In  most  communities  there 
were  always  a  few  public-spirited  citizens  who  looked  with  favor 
on  the  public-school  idea  and  believed  that  the  encouragement 
of  public  education  was  both  a  necessity  and  a  rare  opportunity 
for  promoting  an  intelligent  and  happy  citizenship.  Such  leaders 
regarded  it  a  duty  to  make  provision  for  public  schools;  but 
the  discharge  of  such  a  duty  called  for  funds,  and  there  was 
almost  everywhere  a  dominating  sentiment  against  taxation 
for  anything  except  the  necessary  expenses  of  government. 
Schools  were  not  yet  properly  considered  a  state  obligation, 
and  permanent  endowments  showed  promise  of  furnishing  greatly 
needed  assistance.  This  seems  to  be  the  oldest  aim  or  incentive 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  163 

for  establishing  a  permanent  public-school  fund  and  is  illustrated 
by  the  act  of  1795,  which  established  such  an  endowment  in  Con- 
necticut. But  the  result  was  unexpected  and  unwholesome:  the 
fund  failed  to  make  the  schools  free ;  the  increase  in  its  income 
gradually  checked  the  tendency  to  raise  local  school  taxes; 
and  from  1821  to  1854  practically  the  only  sources  of  school 
support  in  that  State  were  the  income  from  the  school  fund, 
gifts,  and  rate  bills,  which  were  not  abolished  until  1868. 

Other  States  learned  by  Connecticut's  costly  lesson.  It  was 
clearly  demonstrated  that  an  endowment  should  not  entirely 
relieve  a  community  from  local  school  burdens,  but  should  stimu- 
late and  encourage  local  effort  for  school  support.  Any  other 
principle  would  not  only  be  a  moral  injury  to  the  community  and 
to  the  cause  for  which  the  fund  was  provided  but  would  mean 
death  to  the  cause  of  schools  if  the  people  were  entirely  relieved 
of  all  responsibility  of  assisting  in  their  support.  Therefore  an- 
other aim  in  establishing  school  funds  was  to  encourage  local 
taxation.  The  earliest  example  of  this  principle  is  found  in  the 
case  of  New  York,  where  it  was  never  contemplated  that  the  fund, 
established  in  1805,  should  yield  sufficient  revenue  entirely  to 
support  the  schools.  The  principle  here  adopted  was  that  of  local 
taxation,  and  before  a  community  could  participate  in  a  distri- 
bution of  the  revenue  of  the  fund  an  amount  equal  to  its  share 
had  to  be  raised  by  local  levy.  This  principle  has  been  most 
generally  accepted  as  the  soundest  and  most  stimulating  to  the 
cause  of  adequate  school  support  and,  with  certain  modifications, 
soon  came  to  be  widely  adopted  in  the  United  States.  North 
Carolina  seems  to  have  been  the  first  of  the  Southern  States  to 
adopt  this  principle  in  the  distribution  of  income  from  its 
ante-bellum  educational  endowment. 

In  spite  of  their  importance  as  stimuli  to  educational  growth, 
the  record  of  the  amazing  carelessness  and  gross  indifference 
with  which  public-school  endowments  have  been  managed  is  one 
of  the  most  lamentable  and  melancholy  chapters  in  American 
educational  history.  This  record  was  practically  universal  in  the 


1 64  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

pioneer  days  before  education  had  won  its  proper  place  in  public 
interest.  Educational  funds  were  then  rarely  guarded  with  the 
jealous  care  which  their  importance  and  sanctity  demanded.  The 
careless  manner  in  which  they  were  handled,  moreover,  showed 
the  indifference  which  confronted  the  early  movement  for  public 
schools. 

Few  if  any  of  the  States  entirely  escaped  from  the  evils  of  mis- 
management and  the  exploitation  of  public-school  funds.  The 
tendency  toward  careless  management  appeared  early  and  con- 
tinued for  many  years,  more  rigid  control  by  additional  legisla- 
tion proving  but  little  insurance  against  loss.  Among  the  recorded 
causes  of  loss  may  be  seen  almost  every  species  of  violation  of 
public  trust.  In  some  cases  the  school  funds  were  grossly  and 
shamefully  diverted  from  their  original  purposes;  in  other  cases 
their  management  was  indifferently  intrusted  to  incompetent  of- 
ficials, and  the  result  was  unwise  investments;  in  still  other 
cases  loans  were  insufficiently  secured  and  interest  was  often 
defaulted;  and  dishonest  management  and  embezzlement  by 
officers  intrusted  with  the  care  of  school  funds  caused  other  losses. 
Happily,  however,  there  are  but  few  gross  examples  of  this 
form  of  loss.  The  most  flagrant  case  is  perhaps  found  in  Ten- 
nessee, where  Robert  H.  McEwen,  the  first  superintendent  of 
public  schools  in  that  State,  succeeded  in  the  late  thirties  in 
using  a  large  part  of  the  school  fund  for  private  purposes.  Fail- 
ures of  banks  in  which  school  funds  were  invested,  the  use  of  the 
school  funds  for  meeting  the  current  expenses  of  the  state  govern- 
ment, and  the  repudiation  by  the  State  of  debts  due  the  school 
funds  were  other  forms  of  wrongs  committed  against  public 
education. 

Tennessee  was  the  first  of  the  Southern  States  and  the  fourth 
of  all  the  States  to  make  provision  for  establishing  a  permanent 
fund  for  aiding  public  education.  By  act  of  1806  it  was  ordered 
that  the  new  territory,  acquired  by  act  of  Congress  in  the  same 
year,  should  be  surveyed  and  laid  out  into  tracts  six  miles  square 
and  that  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  "fit  for  cultivation 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  165 

and  improvement "  were  to  be  "  appropriated  for  the  use  of  schools 
for  the  instruction  of  children  forever."  This  legislation  conformed 
to  the  requirement  of  the  act  of  Congress  which  ceded  certain 
public  lands  to  Tennessee.  A  land  office  was  soon  opened,  and 
the  school  lands  were  leased  by  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
county  courts ;  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  these  legislative 
provisions  were  not  adequate  to  maintain  a  school  system  without 
cost  to  the  people. 

Nothing  further  was  done  to  promote  the  cause  of  school 
support,  however,  until  1823,  when  offices  were  created  to  receive 
entries  for  vacant  lands  north  and  east  of  the  congressional 
reservation  line.  These  lands  were  to  be  entered  at  a  certain  price, 
and  the  funds  thus  arising  were,  together  with  state  taxes  on  these 
lands,  to  be  set  aside  as  a  "perpetual  and  exclusive  fund  for  the 
establishment  and  promotion  of  common  schools  in  each  and  every 
community  in  the  State."  The  same  act  provided  for  county 
school  commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  the  county  courts,  who 
constituted  the  principal  administrative  officials  of  the  system. 
These  officers  were  to  receive  the  semiannual  distribution  of  the 
means  of  school  support  thus  provided  and  were  to  appropriate 
the  funds  "to  the  education  of  the  poor,  either  by  establishing 
poor  schools  in  their  different  counties  or  by  paying  the  tuition 
of  poor  children."  These  acts  of  1806  and  1823  were  followed  in 
1827  by  legislation  which  consolidated  all  school  funds  into  one 
fund  to  be  used  for  "the  encouragement  and  support  of  common 
schools  forever." 

In  the  early  thirties  further  legislation  was  enacted  in  an 
effort  to  increase  the  fund,  but  no  other  very  important  steps  were 
taken.  In  1835  Tennessee  adopted  its  first  constitutional  pro- 
vision for  schools,  which  provided  that  the  "common  school  fund" 
and  all  other  property  which  had  been  set  aside  for  public-school 
support  should  remain  a  "perpetual  fund."  The  principal  could 
not  be  diminished  by  legislative  appropriation,  and  the  interest 
was  to  be  inviolably  appropriated  to  the  support  and  encourage- 
ment of  common  schools  in  the  State  and  for  the  equal  benefit  of 


1 66  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

all  the  people.  The  constitution  also  provided  that  no  law  should 
ever  be  passed  authorizing  a  diversion  of  the  fund  or  any  part  of 
it  to  any  other  purpose  or  use  than  that  of  the  support  and 
encouragement  of  common  schools.  Further  requirement  was 
made  that  the  Legislature  should  appoint  a  board  of  school  com- 
missioners to  have  general  control  of  the  fund,  and  by  an  act 
of  February,  1836,  provision  was  made  for  these  officers.  Pro- 
vision was  also  made  for  a  state  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion, who  was  to  be  chairman  of  the  board,  the  other  members 
of  which  were  the  treasurer  of  the  State  and  the  comptroller  of 
the  treasury.  The  board  was  empowered  to  appoint  county  agents 
throughout  the  State  to  have  control  of  renewing  securities  and 
receiving  funds  due  the  board.  As  rapidly  as  the  common- 
school  fund  increased  it  was  to  be  invested  in  the  Planters'  Bank 
at  Memphis.  One  of  the  superintendent's  most  important  duties 
was  to  act  as  financial  agent  of  the  fund. 

In  1836  the  Legislature  took  steps  to  provide  for  accepting  the 
State's  share  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  Federal  Government, 
which  amounted  to  $1,433,757.40,  and  at  the  next  session  of  that 
body  a  policy  was  adopted  for  disposing  of  both  the  federal 
fund  and  the  permanent  public-school  fund.  The  plan  agreed 
upon  was  the  result  of  prolonged  consideration  given  to  the  subject 
of  schools  and  school  funds,  which  began  at  the  early  part  of  the 
session  and  continued  until  the  passage,  in  January,  1838,  of  an 
important  educational  act.  This  act  created  the  Bank  of  Ten- 
nessee, which  was  the  third  bank  in  the  State  to  bear  that  name, 
and  capitalized  it  at  $5,000,000.  The  capital  was  to  consist  of  the 
permanent  school  fund,  the  share  of  the  surplus  revenue  to  which 
the  State  was  entitled,  and  any  unexpended  interest  thereon,  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  certain  lands,  and  loans  sufficient  to  bring 
the  total  amount  up  to  $5,000,000.  The  same  act  provided  that 
$100,000  from  the  dividends  of  the  bank  should  be  paid  annually 
to  the  board  of  school  commissioners  for  common-school  support 
and  that  $18,000,  from  the  same  source,  should  be  paid  annually 
for  the  support  of  academies.  By  later  legislation,  however,  this 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  167 

source  of  school  support  was  to  be  turned  into  the  state  treasury, 
to  be  kept  as  a  separate  fund  but  to  receive  the  same  protection 
as  other  funds  of  the  commonwealth. 

It  was  the  Legislature  of  1837-1838  which  became  suspicious 
of  the  superintendent's  management  of  the  school  fund  and  ordered 
him  to  report  certain  facts,  "setting  forth  clearly  the  amount  re- 
ceived by  him,  ...  by  whom  paid,  and  from  what  sources 
received."  McEwen's  business  methods  between  1836  and  1838 
had  aroused  sufficient  suspicion  to  call  for  legislative  investigation, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  for  that  purpose.  The  result  was 
a  majority  report  that,  by  mismanagement  and  a  variety  of  ques- 
tionable schemes,  the  superintendent  had  succeeded  in  robbing  the 
school  of  more  than  $121,000.  Suit  was  later  instituted  against 
him  and  his  securities,  and  as  a  result  of  the  litigation  the  matter 
was  finally  compromised  by  a  legislative  committee,  the  defendants 
paying  less  than  $10,000  in  full  settlement  of  all  claims.1 

The  policy  adopted  in  1838  continued  as  the  method  of  man- 
aging the  fund  until  the  war.  The  annual  appropriation  from  the 
treasury  consisted  of  the  interest  on  the  fund  and  was  distributed 
among  the  counties  of  the  State  on  the  basis  of  their  scholastic 
population.  This  revenue  furnished  to  each  child  of  school  age 
from  forty  to  fifty  cents  a  year,  which  constituted  practically  all 
the  funds  for  public-school  support  until  1854,  when  Tennessee 
made  its  first  provision  for  taxation  for  schools.  This  provision 
practically  doubled  the  available  funds  for  public  education.  The 
chief  defect  of  the  permanent  fund  was  lack  of  centralization  in 
its  management.  In  spite  of  the  weakness,  however,  the  endow- 
ment rendered  substantial  aid  to  educational  effort  for  many  years. 

Virginia  was  the  second  of  the  Southern  States  and  the  fifth 
of  all  the  States  to  establish  a  permanent  public-school  fund. 
This  action  was  taken  in  1810,  wherTa  law  was  passed  directing 
that  "all  escheats,  confiscations,  fines,  penalties  and  forfeitures, 

1  Weeks,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Tennessee,  chap,  iv ; 
Whitaker,  "The  Public  School  System  of  Tennessee,  1834-1860,"  in  Ten- 
nessee Historical  Magazine,  Vol.  2,  No.  i. 


1 68  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

and  all  rights  in  personal  property  accruing  to  the  commonwealth 
as  derelict,  and  having  no  rightful  proprietor"  were  appropriated 
to  the  encouragement  of  learning.  The  auditor  was  directed  to 
begin  an  account  to  be  known  as  the  literary  fund,  and  a  year 
later  an  act  was  passed  which  made  provision  for  the  education  of 
the  poor  by  denning  the  purpose  of  the  fund  and  planning  for  its 
management  by  a  board  composed  of  state  officers.  The  same  act 
stipulated  that  as  soon  as  "a  sufficient  fund  shall  be  provided  for 
the  purpose,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  directors  thereof  to  provide 
a  school  or  schools  for  the  education  of  the  poor  in  each  and  every 
county  of  the  commonwealth."  The  law  entered  a  solemn  protest 
against  the  application  of  the  fund  by  any  future  Legislature  to 
any  other  object  than  the  education  of  the  poor. 

The  fund  grew  slowly  at  first.  In  1816  it  was  increased  by 
a  large  sum  due  Virginia  for  certain  reclamations  for  military 
services  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  shortly  afterward  the  annual 
income  was  considered  large  enough  to  render  substantial  assist- 
ance to  free-school  support.  In  1818  an  act  of  the  Legislature 
appropriated  the  sum  of  $45,000  annually  from  the  income  of 
the  fund  for  the  education  of  poor  children. 

This  amount  continued  to  be  appropriated  for  that  purpose 
until  1850.  The  following  year  the  constitution  of  the  State  was 
revised,  and  provision  was  made  for  applying  to  primary  and 
free  schools  one  half  of  the  capitation  taxes  which  the  revised  con- 
stitution required.  Two  years  later  all  the  capitation  taxes  were 
appropriated  to  educational  purposes.  From  1851  to  1854  the 
annual  appropriation  for  free-school  support  was  $75,000,  and 
from  1855  to  1860  the  appropriation  was  increased  to  $80,000. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  permanent  available  capital  of  the 
literary  fund  was  $1,877,000,  which  was  yielding  a  fair  return. 
In  that  year  the  total  expenditures  for  the  tuition  and  books  of 
poor  children  and  for  the  compensation  of  school  officials  were 
$190,000.  Of  this  amount  the  sum  of  $80,000  came  from  the 
income  of  the  permanent  fund  and  the  remainder  from  the 
capitation  taxes. 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          169 

From  1818  to  1860  the  income  from  Virginia's  permanent 
public-school  fund  was  applied  almost  exclusively  to  the  edu- 
cation of  the  poor,  except  in  a  few  communities  where  the  so- 
called  free-district  system  had  been  adopted  and  where  there 
was  a  surplus  beyond  the  actual  necessities  of  poor  children,  in 
which  case  the  county  authorities  could  transfer  such  surplus  to 
any  incorporated  college  or  academy  in  the  county.  Such  transfers 
were  not  frequently  made,  however,  if  at  all.  Moreover,  the 
literary  fund  belonged  to  all  the  people  of  the  State,  and  the 
question  was  asked,  "  Is  it  right  to  take  the  property  of  the  many 
and  bestow  it  exclusively  on  the  few?"  This  method  of  distri- 
bution seemed  the  chief  defect  of  the  fund,  though  this  was  not 
its  only  weakness.  Fully  one  fifth  of  the  capital  of  the  fund  was 
reported  lost  on  account  of  poor  management  and  poor  invest- 
ments and  by  debts  due  from  defaulting  officers.  More  than 
$382,000  was  lost  in  these  ways  by  1856.  Of  this  amount  the 
sum  of  $59,090.52  was  lost  during  the  early  life  of  the  fund. 
Constant  accumulation  of  funds  in  the  treasury,  which  should 
have  been  invested  for  school  purposes,  was  another  criticism  of 
the  endowment.  Moreover,  fully  40  per  cent  of  the  resources  of 
the  fund  was  not  directly  applied  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
intended. 

South  Carolina  was  the  only  Southern  State  which  did  not 
provide  a  permanent  public-school  fund  before  the  Civil  War  and 
was  likewise  the  only  State  in  the  South  to  support  its  ante- 
bellum public-school  system  entirely  by  annual  legislative  ap- 
propriations. On  this  subject  several  writers  have  fallen  in 
error  by  stating  that  South  Carolina  established  a  school  fund 
in  1811.  Among  the  earliest  errors  was  one  which  appeared  in 
Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  in  1873,  Vol.  XXIV, 
p.  317.  A.  D.  Mayo  made  a  similar  mistake  in  the  Report  of  the 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1894-1895,  Vol.  II, 
p.  1507.  Boone,  in  his  "Education  in  the  United  States"  (1893), 
p.  86,  and  Dexter,  in  his  "History  of  Education  in  the  United 
States"  ( 1904),  p.  204,  were  led  into  the  same  error ;  and  Swift,  in 


170  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

his  "Public  Permanent  Common  School  Funds  in  the  United 
States"  (1911),  says,  "South  Carolina  appears  to  have  estab- 
lished a  permanent  school  fund  in  1811,  but  little,  if  any,  re- 
liable information  concerning  it  has  been  available."  Elsewhere 
the  same  writer  says  of  the  subject,  "Complete  and  reliable 
data  not  available"  (pp.  98,  389).  A  careful  study  by  these 
writers  of  the  logical  sources  of  information  would  have  rendered 
a  happy  service  to  later  students  of  the  subject.1 

Georgia  was  the  third  Southern  State  to  create  a  permanent 
public-school  fund.  As  early  as  1783  the  governor  recommended 
to  the  Legislature  that  seminaries  of  learning  be  given  land  en- 
dowments, and  this  suggestion  proved  to  be  the  first  step  in  the 
establishment  of  academies  and  of  the  state  university.  In  July 
of  that  year  endowments  of  lands  were  given  to  academies  in 
three  counties  of  the  State,  and  the  governor  was  given  power 
to  grant  one  thousand  acres  of  land  as  an  endowment  for  free 
schools  in  the  other  counties.  The  following  year  the  state  uni- 
versity was  chartered  and  endowed  with  forty  thousand  acres 
of  land.  Nothing  was  done  for  public-school  education,  how- 
ever, until  1817,  when  the  sum  of  $250,000  was  set  apart  for 
establishing  and  supporting  free  schools  throughout  the  State; 
and  to  that  end  the  governor  was  empowered  to  invest  the  sum 
in  bank  or  other  profitable  stock.  In  1818  lots  No.  10  and  No. 
100  in  each  surveyor's  district  in  certain  counties  were  set  apart 
for  the  education  of  the  poor  children,  the  proceeds  from  the 
sales  of  such  lands  to  be  kept  as  a  permanent  fund  for  that  pur- 
pose. In  1821  the  sum  of  $500,000  was  set  apart  for  the  perma- 
nent endowment  of  county  academies  and  for  increasing  the  funds 
which  had  already  been  appropriated  to  encourage  and  support 
free  schools.  At  the  same  time  a  similar  amount  was  appropri- 
ated for  internal  improvements  in  the  State. 

The  act  provided  that  the  $500,000  to  be  known  as  the  school 
fund  was  to  be  composed  of  $200,000  of  stock  in  the  Bank  of 

1  See  Knight,  The  Influence  of  Reconstruction  on  Education  in  the  South, 
chap.  iv. 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          171 

Darien,  the  same  amount  of  stock  in  the  state  bank,  and  $100,000 
of  the  stock  in  the  Bank  of  Augusta.  These  sums  were  to  be 
used  for  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  the  school  fund,  and  the 
interest  was  to  be  applied  only  to  education.  The  state  treas- 
urer, comptroller  general,  trustees  or  commissioners  of  the  county 
academies,  and  the  inferior  courts  of  the  various  counties,  to- 
gether with  the  senators  of  the  counties,  were  required  to  ex- 
amine and  make  full  and  accurate  reports  to  the  Legislature  of 
the  amounts  received  by  the  counties  in  confiscated  property  or 
other  endowment ;  and  when  such  information  was  obtained,  the 
dividends  yielded  by  half  of  the  fund  set  apart  by  this  act  were  to 
be  apportioned  and  paid  semiannually  to  the  various  counties, 
as  the  Legislature  should  direct,  for  the  support  of  academies.  The 
dividends  yielded  by  the  other  half  of  the  endowment  were  to  be 
used  for  free-school  support.  One  of  these  endowments  came  to  be 
known  as  the  academy  fund,  the  other  as  the  "poor  school"  fund, 
and  this  distinction  persisted  for  many  years.  Up  to  1829  the 
sum  of  $60,000  was  appropriated  from  the  former  and  $46,000 
from  the  latter  for  the  support  of  academies  and  of  public  schools, 
respectively. 

When  Georgia  received  its  share  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  1837,  which  amounted  to  $1,051,422.09, 
one  third  of  the  amount  was  appropriated  for  educational  sup- 
port, and  a  joint  legislative  committee  of  five  members  was 
appointed  to  digest  and  report  a  school  plan  for  the  State.  The 
report  was  made,  and  as  a  result  an  act  was  passed  in  1837  by 
which  the  academy  and  the  " poor-school"  funds  were  consolidated 
and,  together  with  the  $350,000  of  the  surplus  revenue,  a  general 
free-school  fund  was  constituted.  In  1838  legislative  provision  was 
made  for  a  county  tax  for  school  purposes,  to  be  added  to  the  com- 
mon free-school  fund.  But  by  an  act  of  1840  the  acts  of  1837  and 
1838  were  repealed,  and  all  school  funds  were  merged  into  a 
"poor-school"  fund,  which  remained  the  chief  means  of  public 
educational  support  in  Georgia  until  the  reorganization  period 
following  the  Civil  War. 


172  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  annual  income  from  this  fund  from  1840  to  1860  was  de- 
signed for  encouraging  and  supporting  free  schools,  but  the  plan 
under  which  this  financial  assistance  was  administered  was  very 
unpopular,  with  the  result  that  there  was  widespread  indifference 
on  the  subject  of  public  schools.  However,  between  $30,000  and 
$40,000  seems  to  have  been  annually  distributed  from  the  en- 
dowment for  free-school  support,  though  the  appropriation  was 
often  rejected  because  participation  in  the  benefits  of  the  fund 
was  a  confession  of  pauperism.  This  attitude  toward  the  "poor 
school"  fund  was  produced  by  the  principle  of  distribution, 
which  offered  educational  aid  to  only  a  portion  of  the  people. 
This  principle  operated  in  several  of  the  Southern  States  before 
1860  and  aroused  criticism  of  and  outright  hostility  to  so-called 
public  educational  effort.  In  Georgia  the  criticism  was  as  gen- 
eral and  as  intense  as  elsewhere.  "Poverty,  though  a  great 
inconvenience,  is  no  crime,"  said  Governor  William  Schley,  in 
1837,  "and  it  is  highly  improper,  whilst  you  offer  to  aid  the  cause 
of  education,  to  say  to  a  portion  of  the  people,  'you  are  poor.' 
Thousands  of  freemen  who,  though  indigent,  are  honest,  patri- 
otic, and  valuable  citizens,  will  refuse  your  bounty  and  despise 
the  hand  that  offers  it,  because  it  is  accompanied  with  insult." 

Mississippi  was  made  a  territory  of  the  Union  in  1803  and 
comprised  most  of  the  region  south  of  Tennessee  and  west  of 
Georgia  to  the  Mississippi  River.  In  1817  it  was  made  a  State, 
and  the  act  admitting  it  contained  the  provisions  of  the  North- 
west Ordinance  of  1787,  that  the  sixteenth  section  of  every  town- 
ship should  be  set  apart  and  reserved  for  the  support  of  schools  and 
that  an  entire  township  should  be  reserved  for  the  support  of  a  sem- 
inary of  learning.  At  the  first  Legislature  of  the  State,  in  1818,  an 
act  was  passed  which  provided  for  the  preservation  of  the  sixteenth- 
section  lands,  and  authority  was  given  to  the  county  courts  to  lease 
them  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  to  the  purposes  of  education.  Three 
years  later  a  literary  fund  was  created  for  the  support  of  schools, 
the  sources  of  which  were  all  escheats,  confiscations,  fines  and 
forfeitures,  and  property  accruing  to  the  State.  Neither  the 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          173 

principal  nor  the  interest  of  this  fund  could  be  used  until  it 
amounted  to  $50,000.  In  1833  the  fund  reached  that  amount, 
and  by  act  of  March  of  that  year  provision  was  made  for  invest- 
ing it  in  stock  of  the  Planters'  Bank  of  Mississippi.  The  divi- 
dends from  the  investment  were  to  be  used  for  the  education  of 
poor  children.  Meantime  provision  had  been  made  for  leasing 
the  school  lands  for  ninety-nine  years  at  public  auction  and  on 
personal  security,  and  the  securities  thus  accepted  proved  in 
many  cases  to  be  insufficient.  Moreover,  rents  were  often  not 
paid,  and  in  this  way  a  large  amount  of  this  source  of  school 
support  was  lost.  The  investment  made  in  the  Planters'  Bank 
was  likewise  lost  when  that  institution  failed. 

The  Chickasaw  Fund  and  the  Choctaw  Fund  were  other  funds 
used  for  educational  purposes,  but  the  growth  and  usefulness  of 
these  sources  of  school  support  are  more  or  less  uncertain.  Both 
funds  originated  in  the  sixteenth-section  land  grants,  which 
comprised  about  838,329  acres.  The  Chickasaw  counties,  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State,  received  174,555  acres  and  the  Choc- 
taw  counties,  in  the  southern  part,  received  663,774  acres,  and 
from  the  sale  of  these  lands  arose  the  two  funds.  Parts  of  the 
Choctaw  lands  were  sold  before  1833,  but  the  proceeds  were 
lost  through  mismanagement  and  unsafe  securities,  and  other 
parts  were  leased  for  long  terms.  From  the  sales  of  the  Chicka- 
saw lands  a  fund  was  created  which  finally  came  to  be  held  in 
trust  for  the  Chickasaw  counties.  The  income  from  these  funds 
was  used  under  ante-bellum  legislation  for  aiding  schools  in  the 
two  sections  of  the  State. 

North  Carolina's  permanent  public-school  fund  was  created  in 
1825  and  was  known  as  the  literary  fund.  The  act  creating 
the  fund  defined  its  source  as  follows : 

The  dividends  arising  from  the  stock  now  held  by  the  State  in  the 
banks  of  Newbern  and  Cape  Fear  and  which  have  not  heretofore  been 
pledged  and  set  apart  for  internal  improvements ;  the  dividends  arising 
from  stock  which  is  owned  by  the  State  in  the  Cape  Fear  Navigation 
Company,  and  the  Roanoke  Navigation  Company,  and  the  Clubfoot 


174  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

and  Harlow  Creek  Canal  Company ;  the  tax  imposed  by  law  on  licenses 
to  the  retailers  of  spirituous  liquors  and  auctioneers ;  the  unexpended 
balance  of  the  Agricultural  Fund,  which  by  the  act  of  the  Legislature 
is  directed  to  be  paid  into  the  public  treasury ;  all  moneys  paid  to  the 
State  for  the  entries  of  vacant  lands  (except  the  Cherokee  lands)  ;  the 
sum  of  twenty-one  thousand  and  ninety  dollars,  which  was  paid  by 
this  State  to  certain  Cherokee  Indians,  for  reservations  to  lands  se- 
cured by  them  by  treaty,  when  the  said  sums  shall  be  received  from 
the  United  States  by  this  State;  and  of  all  the  vacant  and  unappro- 
priated swamp  lands  in  this  State,  together  with  such  sums  of  money  as 
the  Legislature  may  hereafter  find  it  convenient  to  appropriate  from 
time  to  time. 

The  same  act  vested  the  funds  thus  provided  in  a  board,  who 
were  instructed  to  invest  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  promote  their 
value.  When  sufficiently  accumulated  the  endowment  was  to  be 
distributed  among  the  counties  in  proportion  to  their  free  white 
population  to  be  used  for  instructing  the  youth  of  the  State  in 
reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic. 

The  growth  of  the  fund  was  slow  during  the  first  years  of  its 
existence,  largely  because  it  remained  idle.  The  board  was  con- 
fronted with  problems  of  safe  investment  as  well  as  with  other 
difficulties.  By  1836,-  however,  it  was  yielding  an  annual  in- 
come of  about  $33,000,  though  nothing  had  yet  been  done  to 
use  it  as  a  means  of  supporting  public  schools,  chiefly  because 
it  had  not  been  considered  large  enough  for  that  purpose.  After 
1836  the  fund  was  greatly  increased  by  the  distribution  of 
the  surplus  revenue  in  the  federal  treasury.  Enormous  revenues 
had  accumulated  as  a  result  of  unprecedented  land  sales  and  of 
the  protective  tariff ;  and  under  the  leadership  of  Webster,  who 
introduced  the  measure,  an  act  was  passed  distributing  the  sur- 
plus on  hand  January  i,  1837,  among  the  several  States  then 
in  the  Union,  on  the  basis  of  their  representation  in  Congress. 
The  States  were  to  agree  to  return  the  money  when  called  on, 
provided  not  more  than  $10,000  should  be  demanded  at  any  time 
from  any  one  State  without  sufficient  notice,  and  all  the  States 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          175 

were  to  be  called  on  for  their  respective  parts  at  the  same  time. 
More  than  $28,000,000  was  thus  distributed. 

North  Carolina's  share  amounted  to  $1,433,757.40,  and  its 
disposition  was  determined  by  several  important  interests  and 
conditions.  The  first  of  these  was  financial  and  had  to  do  with 
internal  improvements.  Previous  state  aid  to  this  interest  had 
not  only  proved  unprofitable  but  had  failed  to  provide  better 
transportation  facilities.  Moreover,  private  companies  and  in- 
dividual effort  were  ill  prepared  to  engage  in  such  enterprises, 
and  with  the  era  of  railroad  construction  at  hand  there  was  a 
growing  demand  for  a  combination  of  state  and  private  capital. 
Such  a  policy  had  been  recommended  repeatedly.  It  had  also 
been  urged  that  the  vast  acreage  of  unavailable  swamp  lands 
belonging  to  the  State  be  drained  so  as  to  be  made  productive 
and  profitable,  but  lack  of  funds  prevented  the  State  from  in- 
augurating such  a  policy. 

A  decrease  in  the  ancient  and  intense  sectional  rivalry  between 
eastern  and  western  interests  also  proved  of  influence  in  deter- 
mining the  disposition  of  North  Carolina's  share  of  the  surplus 
revenue.  This  rivalry  had  for  a  generation  existed  as  a  result 
of  an  unequal  distribution  of  representation  in  the  Legislature, 
and  demands  for  constitutional  reform  had  as  long  been  in- 
sistent. With  the  revision  of  the  constitution  in  1835  tms  reform 
was  secured,  and  the  conflict  appeared  less  intense.  Chance  for 
united  effort  on  public  matters  was  now  greatly  enhanced. 
Moreover,  the  rise  of  the  Whig  Party  revealed  an  important  in- 
fluence in  North  Carolina,  where  it  adopted,  and  in  1836  elected 
a  governor  on,  the  progressive  policy  of  increased  state  aid 
to  internal  improvements.  These  conditions  and  influences  were 
purely  political  in  character.  Another  equally  important  in- 
fluence, perhaps,  but  of  a  different  nature  was  the  depleted 
condition  of  the  state  treasury.  In  the  year  that  the  surplus 
revenue  was  distributed  North  Carolina  had  a  debt  of  about 
$400,000  and  a  record  of  expenses  exceeding  or  equaling  the 


176  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

revenues.  And  the  literary  fund  was  still  insufficient  for  immediate 
educational  service. 

A  joint  legislative  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
best  method  of  disposing  of  the  share  to  which  the  State  was 
entitled.  The  plan  finally  adopted  appropriated  $100,000  to  the 
contingent  expenses  of  the  state  government,  $300,000  to  redeem 
the  public  debt,  $300,000  to  the  credit  of  the  literary  fund, 
$200,000  to  drain  the  swamp  lands,  and  the  remaining  $533,757.40 
to  the  fund  for  internal  improvements.  The  appropriation  to  the 
literary  fund  was  to  be  invested  in  stock  of  the  Bank  of  Cape  Fear, 
and  the  $200,000  appropriated  to  drain  the  swamp  lands  was  in- 
directly an  appropriation  to  the  same  fund,  since  the  income  from 
these  lands  was  to  be  applied  to  it  when  the  entries  were  made. 
Eventually  all  North  Carolina's  share  became  a  part  of  the  literary 
fund  except  the  sum  appropriated  to  the  current  expenses  of  the 
state  government.  But  the  $500,000  immediately  placed  to  the 
credit  of  the  fund  was  not  the  only  increase  of  that  endowment  at 
this  time ;  by  further  legislation  all  the  vacant  swamp  lands  of  the 
State  were  formally  vested  in  the  fund.  Moreover,  railroad 
stock  owned  by  the  State  and  amounting  to  $600,000,  the  reve- 
nue from  certain  loans  made  by  the  internal-improvements  board, 
and  stocks  in  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  valued  at 
$400,000  and  in  the  Bank  of  Cape  Fear  valued  at  $300,000,  both 
the  property  of  the  State,  were  likewise  vested  in  the  literary 
board  for  educational  purposes.  The  principal  of  the  literary 
fund  was  thus  increased  about  $1,800,000.  In  November,  1840, 
the  total  resources  of  the  fund  amounted  to  more  than  $2,125,000. 

With  the  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  the  literary  fund  of 
North  Carolina  was  large  enough  to  be  of  considerable  assistance 
to  schools.  Accordingly  the  first  public-school  law  was  enacted  in 
the  State  in  1839,  and  a  school  system  was  shortly  afterward 
established  under  it.  The  principle  of  school  support  adopted  by 
this  legislation  was  that  of  local  taxation  combined  with  appro- 
priations from  the  literary  fund ;  each  local  school  district  re- 
ceived from  the  income  of  the  public  endowment  twice  the 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  177 

amount  raised  by  local  levy.  Under  this  provision  the  State  set 
in  operation  a  creditable  school  system  prior  to  1860.  This 
method  of  school  support  seemed  well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 
State;  in  1860  more  than  $93,000  was  raised  in  local  taxes  and 
more  than  $186,000  was  distributed  from  the  literary  fund  to 
support  public  schools. 

Before  1860  direct  and  permanent  losses  to  the  literary  fund 
in  North  Carolina  were  not  very  considerable,  but  occasional 
carelessness  in  investing  the  funds  in  securities  of  declining 
value  showed  shortsighted  management.  Several  misfortunes  befell 
the  endowment,  however,  during  the  ante-bellum  period.  The 
defalcation  of  the  treasurer  of  the  State  in  1827  proved  a  tem- 
porary loss  of  about  $28,000  to  the  fund,  though  the  Legislature 
later  returned  the  amount  with  interest.  A  decline  in  dividends 
from  the  stock  held  in  state  banks  somewhat  retarded  the 
growth  of  the  fund  before  1836  and  proved  a  slight  misfortune 
to  the  endowment.  During  the  thirties  and  forties  the  fund 
was  now  and  then  used  to  meet  deficits  in  the  public  fund,  and 
occasionally  it  was  drawn  on  to  meet  interest  charges  on  state 
bonds.  Large  sums  from  the  fund  were  thus  temporarily  used 
for  expenses  of  the  state  government.  The  amounts  were  finally 
returned,  but  the  frequent  loss  in  interest  charges,  which  were 
not  always  repaid,  and  the  manner  of  regarding  the  fund  as 
a  source  of  supply  when  emergency  arose  were  unwise  and 
unjust  practices. 

The  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  in  1837  was  a  stimulus 
to  education  in  many  of  the  States.  The  table  on  page  178  shows 
the  amounts  the  various  States  received  and  how  the  funds 
were  used.1 

Alabama's  original  constitution  in  1819  provided  that  measures 
should  be  taken  to  preserve  from  waste  or  damage  the  lands  which 
had  been  or  which  might  be  granted  by  the  United  States  for  the 
use  of  schools  in  each  township  in  the  State  and  that  the  funds 

^lackmar,  The  History  of  Federal  and  State  Aid  to  Higher  Education, 
p.  46. 


I78 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


STATE 

AMOUNT 

How  USED 

Alabama      

$669,086.78 
286,751.48 
764,670.61 

286,751.48 
1,051,422.09 

477,9I9'I3 
860,254.44 

1,443.757-40 

477,9I9-i3 

955,838.27 

i.338,i73-S7 
955,838.27 
382,335.31 
382,335.31 
286,751.48 
669,086.78 
764,670.61 
4,014,520.71 
1.433.757-40 

2,007,260.36 
2,867,514.80 
382,235.31 
1,051,422.09 

1,433.757-40 
669,086.78 
2,198,428.04 

Education 
General  purposes 
One  half  to  education  and  one 
half  to  general  purposes 
Education 
One  third  to  education  and  two 
thirds  to  general  purposes 
Education  and  internal  improve- 
ments 
One  half  to  education  and  one 
half  to  general  purposes 
Education 
General  purposes 
General  purposes 
General  purposes 
Education  and  general  purposes 
General  purposes 
Education 
Internal  improvements 
General  purposes 
General  purposes 
Education 
Education  and  internal  improve- 
ments 
Education 
Partly  for  education 
Education 
One  third  to  education  and  two 
thirds  to  general  purposes 
General  purposes 
Education 
General  purposes 

Arkansas    

Connecticut    

Georgia  

Kentucky    

Louisiana    

Maine     

Massachusetts     .             . 

Maryland    

Mississippi  

Missouri  

Michigan     

New  Hampshire     .    .    .    - 
New  Jersey     

New  York  

North  Carolina    
Ohio        

Pennsylvania  

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina   

Tennessee  

Vermont     

Virginia  

raised  from  such  lands  should  be  applied  in  strict  conformity 
to  the  object  of  such  grants.  The  same  instrument  said  that 
"schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encour- 
aged." From  that  time  until  the  passage  in  1854  of  the  first 
state-wide  public-school  law,  the  Legislature  passed  numerous 
acts  dealing  with  the  sixteenth  section  in  each  township  which 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          179 

had  been  reserved  by  Congress  for  school  purposes.  One  of  the 
first  of  these  acts  was  passed  in  1819  and  provided  for  leasing  the 
school  lands  with  a  view  to  their  improvement.  The  following 
year  the  limit  of  the  leases  was  extended,  and  there  began  "a  se- 
ries of  special  acts  modifying  the  original  law  in  favor  of  partic- 
ular claimants  that  in  time  worked  havoc  with  the  school  lands." 
In  1823  another  law  was  passed,  which  made  further  provision 
for  leasing  the  lands  and  provided  also  for  the  organization  of 
schools.  Under  the  provisions  of  this  act  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  county  courts  were  to  survey  the  school  lands 
and  to  lease  them  at  auction  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  In  1825 
the  policy  of  incorporating  school  townships  began,  and  the 
trustees  were  allowed  to  lease  the  lands  to  the  highest  bidder 
for  a  period  of  ninety-nine  years,  the  proceeds  from  such  leases 
to  be  invested  in  stock  of  the  United  States  Bank  or  of  the 
state  bank. 

For  many  years  following  this  legislation  the  history  of  the 
public-school  lands  of  Alabama  is  in  large  part  the  history  of 
the  state  bank.  In  1828  provision  was  made  for  depositing  in 
that  institution  notes  received  in  payment  of  school  lands,  to 
bear  6  per  cent  interest,  and  the  principal  collected  on  such  sales 
could  be  invested  in  the  stock  of  the  bank,  to  bear  the  same  inter- 
est and  to  be  guaranteed  by  the  State.  A  few  years  later  there  was 
a  tendency  to  transfer  the  principal  from  the  parent  bank  to 
its  branches  throughout  the  State  "in  order  that  local  borrowers 
from  the  townships  where  these  funds  originated  might  be 
favored";  and  by  an  act  of  1837  the  proceeds  from  the  leases 
or  sales  of  school  lands,  deposited  in  the  bank  or  its  branches, 
became  the  "capital  stock  of  the  said  township."  The  principal 
of  such  funds  could  not  be  diminished,  and  only  their  income 
could  be  used  for  public-school  support.  A  large  quantity  of 
school  lands  was  sold  under  this  legislation.  In  a  short  time, 
however,  numerous  private  acts  were  passed  extending  the  time 
of  payment  for  certain  purchasers,  and  at  the  session  of  1842-1843 
the  Legislature  passed  an  act  which  provided  for  canceling  the 


i8o  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

sales  of  school  lands  when  "the  insolvency  of  the  purchasers" 
or  similar  causes  made  such  sales  unproductive.  The  result  was 
widespread  cancellation  during  the  next  few  years. 

Meanwhile  the  state  bank  had  been  very  prosperous,  and 
from  1836  to  1842  direct  taxation  was  suspended,  and  the  large 
income  of  the  bank  was  looked  to  for  defraying  the  expenses 
of  the  state  government.  The  school  fund  naturally  shared  in 
this  wave  of  prosperity.  Moreover,  the  State  had  placed  to  the 
credit  of  the  school  fund  its  share  of  the  surplus  revenue  of 
1837,  amounting  to  $669,086.78,  and  this  had  been  deposited 
in  the  state  bank.  In  1839  the  bank  was  ordered  to  pay  annually 
for  school  support  the  sum  of  $150,000,  which  was  increased  to 
$200,000  the  following  year. 

Prosperity  did  not  continue,  however.  In  1843  direct  taxation 
was  resumed,  and  the  bank  being  unable  to  pay  its  obligations  to 
the  State  or  to  education  the  school  appropriation  required  by  the 
law  of  1840  was  repealed.  In  1846  the  bank  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  trustees,  who  received  legislative  instructions  to  retain 
a  sufficient  amount  of  the  institution's  assets  "to  pay  off  the 
amounts  that  may  be  due  the  several  townships."  The  following 
year  further  steps  were  taken  in  favor  of  the  schools.  The  senate 
committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  subject  reported  that  up  to 
December,  1847,  more  tnan  $953,ooo  had  been  received  from  the 
sales  of  school  lands  and  that  more  than  $73,000  was  due  in 
interest  on  those  sales.  Some  of  the  branch  banks  reported  that 
the  money  had  been  lent  "indiscriminately"  with  other  funds  and 
that  the  amount  formed  a  "part  of  the  good,  bad,  and  doubtful 
debts  due  the  State,"  or  that  it  was  credited  to  the  several  town- 
ships and  was  a  "charge  against  the  general  assets  of  the  bank." 
This  was  the  case  with  the  branches  at  Decatur,  Tuscaloosa, 
Montgomery,  and  Mobile,  but  the  Huntsville  branch  retained  the 
funds  which  belong  to  the  schools  and  paid  interest  on  them 
quarterly.  The  committee  also  reported  that  the  bank  and  its 
branches  held  notes  given  for  school  lands  amounting  to  $453,000, 
more  than  $208,000  of  which  was  in  litigation. 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  FUNDS          181 

Steps  were  taken  by  legislation  of  1848  to  adjust  the  affairs  of 
the  state  bank,  and  provision  was  made  for  vesting  all  funds 
arising  from  the  sales  of  the  sixteenth-section  lands  in  the  State, 
as  trustee  for  the  townships,  and  for  paying  such  funds  into  the 
treasury  of  the  State.  The  comptroller  was  required  to  report 
the  amount  due  to  each  township,  the  governor  was  required  to 
issue  a  certificate  when  other  amounts  were  received,  and  the  tax 
collector  of  each  county  "was  required  to  deposit  with  the  county 
treasurer  an  annual  sum  equal  to  the  interest"  at  6  per  cent  on 
the  certificates  held  by  the  townships  in  the  county.  On  the 
funds  thus  deposited  the  school  commissioners  could  draw  for 
school  support.  In  1853  it  was  reported  that  up  to  that  time 
more  than  558,000  acres  of  sixteenth-section  lands  had  been  sold 
for  about  $1,575,000  and  that  $1,183,000  had  been  paid  into  the 
state  bank  and  to  the  state  treasurer.  The  larger  part  of  this 
had  been  funded  in  accordance  with  the  act  of  1848,  and  certifi- 
cates had  been  delivered  to  the  township  for  their  quota.  In 
1850  the  State  owed  the  school  fund  about  $995,000  in  addition 
to  about  $59,000  in  interest;  in  1851  the  interest  on  the  school 
fund  was  more  than  $103,000;  and  in  1853  there  were  about 
$392,000  in  notes  which  belonged  to  the  townships. 

One  bitter  criticism  of  the  administration  of  the  fund  was  on 
the  failure  to  invest  the  proceeds  of  the  land  sales  in  safe  interest- 
bearing  securities.  Another  was  on  the  inequality  of  distribution 
of  such  proceeds.  Mr.  William  F.  Perry,  the  first  state  superin- 
tendent of  public  schools  in  Alabama,  said,  concerning  this 
condition : 

This  fund,  so  far  from  being  an  aid,  was  really  an  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  the  establishment  of  a  general  system  of  schools.  Its  uselessness 
for  such  a  purpose  was  due  to  the  great  inequality  of  its  distribution. 
There  were  many  hundreds  of  townships  whose  school  lands  were 
totally  valueless  ;  and  probably  more  than  half  the  remainder  possessed 
funds  so  small  as  to  be  practically  valueless.  There  were  whole 
counties  whose  township  funds  consolidated  would  hardly  have  sup- 
ported a  decent  school.  It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  these 


1 82  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

sections  of  the  State  contained  a  white  population  at  once  the  densest 
and  the  most  needy. 

The  townships  having  the  largest  school  endowment  were  found 
chiefly  in  the  Tennessee  Valley  and  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
State,  known  as  the  Black  Belt.  While  it  is  true  that  the  funds  of 
most  of  them  were  legitimately  and  wisely  used,  it  is  also  true  that 
they  belonged  to  those  who  were  in  least  need  of  aid,  and  it  is  equally 
true  that  many  of  the  most  richly  endowed  townships  were  covered 
with  cotton  plantations  and  negro  quarters  and  had  no  schools  at  all. 

This  inequality  of  distribution  was  severely  criticized  by 
Judge  A.  B.  Meek  at  the  session  of  the  Legislature  in  1853-1854. 
Judge  Meek  was  chairman  of  the  committee  in  the  House  which 
framed  the  school  law  of  that  year,  and  in  presenting  the  proposed 
legislation,  which  he  drafted,  the  chairman  pointed  out  some  inter- 
esting facts.  At  that  time  there  were  1572  townships  in  the  State, 
and  873  of  these  had  made  sales  of  their  sixteenth  sections ;  the 
remainder  had  made  no  sales.  The  sales  which  had  been  made 
brought  the  sum  of  $1,575,598,  and  sales  of  the  remainder 
would  have  increased  the  school  fund  to  nearly  $2,000,000.  The 
value  of  the  school  lands  in  13  counties  was  one  third  more  than 
half  the  value  of  the  total  school  lands  of  the  State,  although  the 
white  population  of  those  counties  was  only  about  one  fourth  of 
the  entire  population  of  the  State.  Dallas  County,  for  example, 
had  a  white  population  of  7000  and  an  annual  school  fund  of 
$5000;  Mobile  had  a  white  population  of  18,000  and  no  fund 
at  all.  Covington  County  received  less  than  $7  a  year,  while  one 
township  in  Perry  County  had  an  annual  school  fund  of  $1200. 
This  inequality  had  its  origin  in  the  original  legislation,  which 
made  the  school  lands  the  property  of  the  townships  rather 
than  of  the  State. 

By  act  of  1854  a  state-wide  and  somewhat  advanced  school 
law  was  passed  which  looked  to  the  elimination  of  the  weak 
features  of  previous  practices.  Provision  was  made  for  a  state 
educational  fund  and  for  establishing  a  creditable  school  plan,  the 
features  and  operation  of  which  will  be  treated  in  the  following 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          183 

chapter.  The  educational  fund  was  to  consist  of  an  annual 
8  per  cent  interest  on  the  surplus  revenue  which  the  State  re- 
ceived in  1837 ;  an  annual  interest  of  8  per  cent  on  the  proceeds 
from  the  sale  of  certain  lands  granted  by  the  Federal  Government 
in  lieu  of  certain  valueless  sixteenth-section  lands;  an  annual 
interest  of  6  per  cent  on  funds  which  had  accrued  or  would  ac- 
crue from  the  sale  of  sixteenth-section  lands ;  the  sum  of  $100,000 
from  the  state  treasury;  all  escheats  and  taxes  on  banks,  rail- 
roads, and  insurance  companies.  In  1855  the  income  from  these 
sources  amounted  to  about  $237,000,  which  increased  to  about 
$283,000  in  1860.  The  fund  thus  established  recognized  the 
sources  of  school  support  which  existed  at  that  time  and  pro- 
vided for  new  sources.  Provision  was  also  made  for  a  permissive 
local  tax  to  supplement  the  income  from  the  state  funds,  which 
were  to  be  used  exclusively  for  the  payment  of  teachers.  And 
from  these  sources  the  public  schools  of  the  State  were  main- 
tained until  the  war. 

This  history  of  public  education  in  Arkansas  before  the  Civil 
War  is  largely  the  history  of  the  sixteenth  section,  the  seminary, 
and  the  saline  lands,  which  constituted  the  basis  of  ante-bellum 
school  support  in  the  State,  and  in  that  respect  may  be  regarded 
as  a  permanent  fund.  The  sixteenth-section  lands  were  the  old- 
est of  these  sources  of  school  support,  dating  from  the  Northwest 
Ordinance  of  1787,  and  came  into  possession  of  the  townships 
of  Arkansas  in  1819,  when  it  was  organized  as  a  territory.  Under 
territorial  laws  of  1829,  1831,  and  1833  provision  was  made  for 
caring  for  these  lands,  which  contained  about  928,000  acres. 
Arkansas  was  admitted  as  a  State  in  1819;  and  although  its 
constitution  made  no  provision  for  creating  a  permanent  school 
fund  from  the  sale  of  these  lands,  the  State  accepted  in  the  same 
year  the  terms  on  which  the  lands  were  granted,  that  their  proceeds 
should  be  devoted  to  educational  support.  In  1843  legislative 
provision  was  made  for  selling  or  leasing  the  sixteenth-section 
lands,  and  the  proceeds  from  such  sales  or  leases  were  to  become 
a  perpetual  fund,  the  income  only  to  be  used  for  public-school 


1 84  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

support.  The  lands  were  sold  on  ten  years'  time,  however,  and 
"in  many  cases  were  never  paid  for."  For  this  and  other  reasons 
this  source  of  school  support  was  never  very  large. 

In  1827  Congress  set  aside  two  townships  for  the  use  and 
support  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  and  the  lands  thus  granted 
came  to  be  known  as  the  seminary  lands.  In  1833  authority 
was  given  to  sell  a  part  of  them  for  university  purposes,  and 
three  years  later  the  Legislature  was  given  complete  authority 
over  them.  In  1838  provision  was  made  for  selling  the  seminary 
lands,  and  the  proceeds  from  the  sales  were  to  become  a  part  of 
the  capital  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Arkansas.  A  few  sales 
seem  to  have  been  made,  but  trouble  soon  arose  over  conflicts 
with  squatters'  claims,  and  losses  were  incurred.  In  1847  Pro" 
vision  was  made  for  applying  the  proceeds  of  the  seminary  lands 
to  the  public-school  fund,  and  about  the  same  time  the  Legisla- 
ture made  the  agent  of  the  state  lands  the  agent  also  of  the  semi- 
nary lands,  with  authority  to  dispose  of  them  by  private  sales. 
The  methods  adopted  under  the  provision  caused  another  loss  to 
this  means  of  school  support :  the  lands  seem  to  have  been  pur- 
chased by  a  few  individuals  "who  became  securities  for  each 
other";  many  of  the  notes  were  never  paid,  and  the  cash,  which 
had  been  invested  in  the  state  bank,  was  lost  to  the  schools  with 
the  failure  of  that  institution. 

The  story  of  the  saline  lands,  which  were  granted  to  the  State 
by  the  United  States  for  educational  purposes,  is  similar  to  that 
of  the  seminary  lands.  The  saline  lands  consisted  of  about  forty- 
six  thousand  acres,  the  larger  part  of  which  had  been  located  by 
1860  and  sold  on  the  same  terms  as  the  seminary  lands,  the  pro- 
ceeds becoming  a  part  of  the  capital  of  the  state  bank.  In  1853 
provision  was  made  for  applying  the  proceeds  of  these  lands  to 
the  public  schools,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of  the  seminary  funds 
in  1847.  Thus  all  the  lands  granted  to  Arkansas  for  educational 
purposes  were  finally  used  for  public-school  support.  Like  the 
seminary  lands,  however,  the  funds  arising  from  the  saline  lands 
were  lost  with  the  failure  of  the  state  bank. 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          185 

The  income  from  all  these  funds  was  used  for  public-school 
support  before  1860.  After  1849  the  income  from  the  seminary 
fund  was  distributed  to  the  various  counties  on  the  basis  of  school 
population,  "to  be  invested  by  the  respective  counties  and  to 
remain  a  perpetual  fund."  Under  this  method  of  distribution 
more  than  $285,000  was  paid  over  to  the  counties  by  i860.1 
The  income  from  the  saline  fund  was  similarly  distributed  after 
1853,  and  by  1860  nearly  $24,000  was  paid  over  to  the  counties. 
From  these  sources  and  the  funds  arising  from  the  sixteenth- 
section  lands  public  schools  were  largely  supported  in  Arkansas 
before  the  Civil  War.  These  means  were  inadequate,  however,  and 
the  income  from  the  lands  seems  to  have  accomplished  but  "little 
toward  universal  education  in  Arkansas."  More  would  doubt- 
less have  been  accomplished  but  for  mismanagement  and  loss  of 
the  public  funds.  Probably  $750,000  which  should  have  gone 
for  educational  support  was  lost  before  1870  by  insufficient  legis- 
lation, bad  debts,  and  general  mismanagement. 

The  provisions  for  school  support  in  Texas  were  not  alto- 
gether unlike  those  which  were  made  in  the  States  which  received 
sixteenth-section  lands  under  the  provisions  of  the  Northwest 
Ordinance.  In  1839  the  Republic  of  Texas  made  provision 
for  schools  by  granting  to  each  organized  county  three  leagues 
for  the  purpose  of  supporting  a  primary  school  or  an  academy 
in  each  county,  and  fifty  leagues  for  the  support  of  two  colleges ; 
and  the  following  year  an  additional  league  was  granted  to  each 
county  for  the  same  purpose.  In  1845  Texas  became  a  member 
of  the  Union,  and  its  constitution  provided  that  the  Legislature 
should  set  apart  as  a  perpetual  fund  "not  less  than  one  tenth 
of  the  annual  revenue  of  the  State,  derivable  from  taxation,"  for 
the  support  of  public  schools.  This  provision  of  the  constitution 
was  complied  with,  and  in  1854  the  Legislature  appropriated 
$2,000,000  of  5  per  cent  bonds  in  the  state  treasury  for  public- 
school  purposes.  The  fund  thus  created  was  known  as  the 
"special  school  fund."  The  interest  only  was  to  be  used  for 

1  Weeks,  History  of  Public  Education  in  Arkansas,  p.  99. 


1 86  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

supporting  schools,  and  this  was  to  be  distributed  among  the 
counties  of  the  State  on  the  basis  of  their  free  white  children 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen.  The  same  act  provided  for 
establishing  a  school  system  in  the  State,  to  be  supported  by  a 
combination  of  the  income  from  the  permanent  fund  and  sub- 
scriptions and  rate  bills.  In  the  same  year  Texas  donated  thirty- 
six  million  acres  of  land  for  encouraging  railroad  construction, 
and  subsequent  legislation  gave  the  alternate  sections  of  the 
lands  to  the  school  fund.  The  lands  belonging  to  this  fund  orig- 
inally embraced  an  area  of  more  than  fifty  million  acres.  These 
lands  furnished  the  basis  of  abundant  support  for  schools  and 
gave  to  Texas  the  largest  permanent  endowment  for  that  purpose 
to  be  found  in  the  United  States.  A  great  deal  of  this  source  of 
school  support  was  lost,  however,  through  defaulted  interest  and 
by  sales  of  lands  for  less  than  their  value. 

Florida  was  made  a  territory  in  1819,  and  in  1835  legislative 
attention  was  turned  to  the  preservation  of  the  sixteenth-section 
lands  which  each  township  received  from  Congress  for  school 
support  and  of  the  four  townships  of  land  received  from  the 
same  source  for  the  maintenance  of  seminaries  of  learning.  In 
1839  legislative  provision  was  made  for  school  trustees  in  each 
township,  who  were  empowered  to  lease  the  lands  of  the  township 
and  to  apply  the  proceeds  "for  the  benefit  of  common  schools." 
In  1843  ^e  sheriffs  of  the  counties  were  made  commissioners 
of  the  school  lands  and  authorized  to  appropriate  the  funds  accru- 
ing from  such  lands  to  the  education  of  poor  children.  In  1845 
Florida  was  admitted  to  the  Union,  and  its  constitution,  which 
had  been  framed  seven  years  before,  provided  for  the  creation 
of  a  perpetual  fund  from  the  proceeds  of  all  "lands  that  have 
been,  or  hereafter  may  be,  granted  by  the  United  States  for  the 
use  of  schools  and  a  seminary  or  seminaries  of  learning."  The 
interest  from  this  fund,  "together  with  all  moneys  derived  from 
any  other  source  applicable  to  the  same  subject,  shall  be  invio- 
lably appropriated  to  the  use  of  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning, 
respectively,  and  to  no  other  purpose." 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  187 

The  original  purpose  was  not  to  sell  the  sixteenth-section 
lands  and  consolidate  the  proceeds  into  a  general  school  fund, 
but  the  rentals  and  proceeds  from  any  sales  of  public  lands  were 
to  be  used  for  educational  purposes  in  the  townships  to  which  the 
lands  belonged.  In  1848,  however,  the  funds  arising  from  the 
lands  were  taken  from  the  authority  of  the  townships  and 
merged  into  a  common  fund  under  state  control.  To  this  fund 
were  added  also  the  net  proceeds  of  all  escheated  estates,  5  per 
cent  of  the  net  proceeds  from  any  other  lands  granted  to  the 
State  by  Congress,  and  all  property  found  on  the  coast  of  the 
State.  But  the  fund  thus  created  was  never  large.  In  1856 
the  appropriation  from  this  source  was  only  about  $6000,  and  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  it  was  only  a  few  hundred  dollars 
more.  Funds  arising  from  the  endowment  were  distributed  on  a 
per-capita  basis.  In  1861  the  school  fund  was  surrendered  to  the 
State  in  exchange  for  certificates  of  indebtedness  and  seems  to 
have  been  thus  used  for  military  purposes.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  the  assets  of  the  school  fund  were  "  about  600,000  acres  of 
unsold  school  land." 

Louisiana  was  admitted  to  the  Union  in  1812  and  received  about 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  acres  of  sixteenth-section 
lands  for  the  use  of  public  schools.  Ten  per  cent  of  the  proceeds 
"of  all  public  lands  sold  by  the  United  States"  was  applied  to 
school  support  in  1841,  though  several  years  passed  "  before  any 
appreciable  sums  were  received  from  these  sources."  In  1845  the 
constitution  of  the  State  provided  for  a  perpetual  fund,  to  consist 
of  the  proceeds  of  all  lands  which  the  United  States  had  granted 
to  the  State  for  use  of  schools,  of  all  lands  which  "may  hereafter  be 
granted  or  bequeathed"  to  the  State  unless  given  for  some  other 
purpose,  and  the  proceeds  of  estates  to  which  the  State  would  be 
entitled  by  law.  These  sources  were  to  be  "  held  by  the  State  as  a 
loan,"  on  which  an  annual  interest  of  6  per  cent  was  to  be  paid 
for  school  support,  together  with  the  rents  of  all  unsold  lands. 
The  fund  thus  provided  for  was  to  "  remain  inviolable,"  to  be  used 
only  for  the  maintenance  of  public  schools. 


1 88  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

By  constitutional  provision  in  1852  these  sources  were  con- 
tinued, and  to  them  was  added  the  interest  of  the  State's  share 
of  the  surplus  revenue  of  1837.  This  share,  which  amounted  to 
$477,919.14,  had  already  been  used  for  general  purposes,  how- 
ever, and  the  legislation  which  appropriated  to  school  support 
the  interest  on  the  amount  established  a  credit  fund  rather 
than  a  productive  endowment.  Moreover,  the  sixteenth-section 
lands  were  held  to  be  the  property  of  the  townships  rather  than 
of  the  State.  Some  of  the  townships  surrendered  their  lands, 
however,  and  the  proceeds  were  placed  to  the  school  fund ;  others 
held  their  lands  and  received  slight  returns  from  them;  and  still 
others  lost  all  record  of  their  lands. 

By  act  of  1847  and  additional  legislation  in  the  fifties  some- 
what advanced  provisions  were  made  for  educating  the  white 
children  of  the  State  between  the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen.  Chief 
among  these  was  a  provision  for  a  property  tax  and  a  capitation 
tax  for  school  support.  These  sources  were  to  be  combined  with 
the  income  from  the  permanent  school  fund,  and  the  total  fund 
thus  provided  was  to  be  apportioned  to  the  various  parishes  on 
the  basis  of  their  scholastic  population.  Between  1847  and 
1860  the  sum  of  $3,840,000  was  appropriated  for  free-school 
support,  but  the  amounts  actually  expended  "exceeded  the  appro- 
priations, owing  doubtless  to  the  payment  of  the  annuity  from  the 
free-school  fund  out  of  the  general  fund."1  As  a  result  of  the  Civil 
War  and  reconstruction,  however,  Louisiana's  debt  reached  the 
sum  of  $40,000,000,  and  the  school  funds  so  liberally  provided 
before  1860  were  exploited  and  largely  lost  along  with  other 
resources  of  the  State. 

From  the  foregoing  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  permanent 
public-school  funds  were  established  in  all  the  Southern  States 
except  South  Carolina  before  the  Civil  War,  and  that  the  ante- 
bellum public-school  system  was  promoted  in  some  measure  by 
this  means  of  financial  support.  In  South  Carolina,  however,  no 
such  fund  was  established  until  1868,  and  public-school  support 
1Fay,  The  History  of  Education  in  Louisiana,  p.  105. 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  189 

in  that  State  before  that  time  was  made  from  direct  legislative 
appropriations.  It  may  be  seen  also  that  public  endowments  for 
educational  purposes  served  to  develop  a  wholesome  interest  in 
schools  and,  in  some  cases  at  least,  stimulated  local  initiative  and 
community  enterprise.  It  appears,  also,  that  in  spite  of  the  im- 
portance of  this  means  of  school  support  the  funds  were  often 
carelessly  and  indifferently  administered  and  that  the  record  of 
losses  to  such  endowments  is  a  discreditable  chapter  in  the  history 
of  the  public  school. 

In  addition  to  losses  incurred  during  the  ante-bellum  period 
by  incompetent  management,  maladministration,  and  the  like,  the 
school  funds  in  most  of  the  Southern  States  lost  disastrously  as 
a  result  of  bank  failures,  depreciation  of  securities  and  of  property 
during  and  following  the  Civil  War,  and  as  a  result  of  exploitation 
during  the  period  of  reconstruction.  Few  if  any  of  the  States 
finally  escaped  losses  from  such  causes  during  those  years. 
Florida,  Georgia,  and  Virginia  used  portions  of  their  school 
funds  for  military  purposes;  the  fund  in  Tennessee  was  greatly 
diminished  by  the  failure  of  the  state  bank  in  which  it  was 
invested ;  North  Carolina's  fund  was  largely  lost  in  the  wreck 
that  came  to  the  banking  system  of  the  State  in  1865  ;  Louisi- 
ana's fund  was  exploited  and  largely  lost  during  the  years  im- 
mediately following  the  war ;  and  the  funds  in  the  other  States 
were  in  these  or  other  ways  greatly  diminished  if  not  entirely 
lost  between  1861  and  1876. 

In  the  constitutions  framed  in  accordance  with  the  congres- 
sional plan  of  reconstruction  the  ante-bellum  provisions  for 
perpetual  school  funds  were  continued  practically  unchanged. 
Following  reconstruction  and  during  the  years  of  readjustment, 
changes  in  the  constitutional  and  legislative  provisions  for  this 
form  of  school  support  were  made,  and  gradually  more  or  less 
creditable  funds  were  reestablished  in  practically  all  the  Southern 
States  as  an  aid  to  public-school  education.  In  1917  permanent 
public-school  funds  of  one  kind  or  another  were  reported  in  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Mississippi, 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Florida,  Arkansas,  Alabama,  Texas,  and  Louisiana.  In  that  year 
Georgia  had  no  permanent  school  fund,  but  was  supporting  its 
schools  rather  liberally  by  legislative  appropriations  raised  by 
public  taxation. 

By  the  constitution  of  the  State  the  permanent  public-school 
fund  of  Virginia  consists  of  the  proceeds  of  all  public  lands  do- 
nated by  Congress  for  public  free-school  purposes,  all  escheated 
property,  all  waste  and  unappropriated  land,  all  proceeds  accru- 
ing to  the  State  by  forfeitures,  all  fines  collected  for  offenses 
committed  against  the  State,  and  such  other  sums  as  the  Legis- 
lature may  appropriate.  The  total  fund  amounts  to  more 
than  $3,525,000  and  is  invested  in  state  bonds  and  other  se- 
curities which  yield  from  3  to  6  per  cent  interest.  The  annual 
interest  is  applied  exclusively  to  the  maintenance  of  primary  and 
grammar  schools.  The  second  auditor  of  Virginia  is  by  law  the 
accountant  of  the  fund,  and  its  securities  are  kept  in  his  office. 
He  collects  all  the  interest,  deposits  it  in  the  state  treasury, 
and  pays  it  to  the  objects  for  which  the  fund  is  designed. 

The  "State  Literary  Fund"  is  the  permanent  public-school 
fund  of  North  Carolina  and,  under  an  act  of  1903,  which  re- 
organized the  endowment,  it  consists  of  all  funds  derived  before 
that  time  from  the  sources  enumerated  in  the  constitution  and  all 
funds  hereafter  so  derived,  together  with  the  interest  on  such 
funds.  The  fund  amounts  to  about  $550,000  and  is  in  safely  se- 
cured notes  which  yield  4  per  cent  interest  annually.  The  Leg- 
islature of  1917  added  to  the  fund  the  sum  of  $500,000,  which  is 
to  be  available  in  six  annual  installments.  With  the  present 
rate  of  increase  the  fund  will  amount  to  more  than  $1,250,000 
when  the  recent  legislative  appropriation  has  been  received. 
The  interest  on  this  fund  is  used  exclusively  to  build  and  im- 
prove public  schoolhouses,  under  rules  and  regulations  adopted 
by  the  state  board  of  education.  Loans  are  made  to  the  county 
board  of  education,  payable  in  ten  annual  installments,  at  4 
per  cent  interest,  and  are  secured  by  notes  of  the  county  board 
and  a  lien  upon  the  total  school  funds  of  the  county.  All  houses 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS          191 

built  by  aid  from  this  fund  are  required  to  be  constructed  in 
strict  accordance  with  plans  approved  by  the  state  department 
of  education.  Every  county  in  the  State  has  been  assisted  hi 
this  way,  and  nearly  one  fourth  of  all  the  public  schoolhouses  of 
the  State  have  been  built  or  improved  by  the  aid  of  this  fund 
since  1903. 

The  total  amount  of  South  Carolina's  permanent  public-school 
fund,  which  was  created  in  1868,  is  nearly  $62,000,  invested  in 
South  Carolina  bonds,  which  yield  4^  per  cent  interest.  The 
income  derived  from  these  investments  is  apportioned  to  the 
counties  of  the  State  by  the  state  board  of  education  for  public- 
school  support.  The  permanent  school  fund  of  Tennessee 
amounts  to  $2,512,500  and  is  in  the  form  of  a  certificate  of 
indebtedness,  on  which  the  State  pays  an  annual  interest  of  6 
per  cent.1  To  this  fund  other  items  may  be  added  from  time 
to  time ;  among  these  are  the  proceeds  of  all  escheated  property, 
forfeitures,  and  other  items.  The  income  from  this  fund  amounted 
to  more  than  $133,000  in  1916  and  was  distributed  to  the 
various  counties  for  public-school  support. 

Mississippi  has  certain  small  funds,  known  as  the  Chickasaw 
Fund,  the  Choctaw  Fund,  the  Hancock  Fund,  and  the  township 
funds,  which  aggregate  approximately  $1,500,000  and  are  in- 
vested at  an  average  annual  rate  of  6  per  cent.  The  income  from 
these  funds  is  used  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  public-school 
term,  supplementing  the  salaries  of  teachers,  repairing  build- 
ings, and  adding  to  the  equipment  of  schools.  Florida's  per- 
manent school  fund  amounts  to  more  than  $1,500,000  and  is 
invested  in  bonds  and  securities  which  yield  from  3  to  8  per 
cent.  The  income  from  these  investments  is  annually  distributed 
to  the  various  counties  on  the  basis  of  average  attendance. 

The  permanent  school  fund  of  Arkansas  amounts  to  about 
$1,134,000  and  is  invested  in  5  per  cent  bonds.  The  income  from 
this  investment  goes  to  the  state  apportionment  for  public- 
school  support,  on  the  basis  of  scholastic  population.  Alabama's 
1  Public  School  Laws  of  Tennessee  (1916),  pp.  27,  28. 


192  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

permanent  school  fund  comprises  the  proceeds  from  the  sales 
of  sixteenth-section  lands,  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  indemnity 
lands,  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  the  so-called  valueless  sixteenth- 
section  lands,  and  the  United  States  surplus  revenue,  amounting 
in  all  to  more  than  $3,000,000.  The  fund  is  held  in  trust  by  the 
State  for  the  support  of  public  schools  and  yields  from  4  to  6  per 
cent  annually.  The  income  is  credited  to  the  general  educational 
fund  of  the  State. 

The  permanent  school  fund  of  Texas  amounts  to  more  than 
$68,000,000  and  "consists  of  bonds,  land  notes,  unsold  lands,  and 
cash  on  hand."  The  income  from  this  endowment  is  known  as  the 
state  available  school  fund  and  is  used  for  general  school  support, 
being  apportioned  to  the  school  districts  on  the  basis  of  scholastic 
population.  Louisiana's  permanent  fund  consists  of  a  state 
debt  due  the  school  fund,  certain  consolidated  and  constitutional 
bonds,  which  represent  the  proceeds  from  sixteenth-section  lands, 
and  unsold  common-school  lands.  The  state  debt  to  the  fund 
yields  a  certain  revenue  which,  in  reality,  however,  comes  from 
state  taxation ;  and  as  interest  on  the  sixteenth-section  funds 
deposited  with  the  state  treasurer  the  schools  receive  about 
$92,000  a  year,  which  increases  with  new  sales.  This  income 
is  used  for  general  public-school  support. 

It  will  be  seen  that  permanent  public-school  endowments 
represented  a  form  of  indirect  taxation  for  school  support.  They 
served  both  to  relieve  the  people  temporarily  of  a  direct  burden 
and  to  stimulate  what  may  properly  be  called  a  quasi-public 
educational  effort.  It  should  also  be  kept  in  mind  that  this 
means  of  aiding  the  support  of  public  schools  became  popular 
when  the  idea  of  education  as  a  public  obligation  and  function 
was  weak  and  faltering.  The  beginnings  of  direct  state  taxa- 
tion for  public  schools  had  not  yet  been  made  in  the  South.  But 
the  agitation  of  the  question  of  state  support  of  schools  was 
widening  and  gaining  force,  and  through  the  means  of  permanent 
public-school  endowments  sentiment  for  direct  public  support 
of  education  gained  in  favor.  Even  with  this  assistance  for  the 


PERMANENT  PUBLIC-SCHOOL  FUNDS  193 

cause,  however,  many  years  were  to  pass  'before  the  principle  of 
free  public  education  for  all  the  children,  by  taxation  on  all  the 
property  of  the  State,  was  to  be  safely  established. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Explain  the  bitter  fight  which  early  developed  over  the  question 
of  school  support  by  public  taxation.    What  evidence  can  you  offer 
to  show  that  the  fight  has  not  yet  been  entirely  won  ? 

2.  Why  were  the  lawmaking  bodies  of  the  early  national  period 
slow  and  reluctant  to  follow  the  urgings  of  the  governors  to  make 
adequate  provision  for  public   schools?    Why  are  present-day  legis- 
lative bodies  often  very  slow  to  take  advanced  and  progressive  educa- 
tional steps  promptly? 

3.  Make  a  study  of  the  ante-bellum  permanent  school  fund  of  your 
State  and  compare  it  with  similar  funds  in  other  States  in  (a)  purpose, 
(6)  sources,  (c)  method  of  administration  and  of  operation,  (d)  re- 
sults and  influence. 

4.  In  what  way  did  permanent  public-school  funds  promote   the 
establishment  of  public-school  systems  in  the  Southern  States  ?    In  what 
way,  if  any,  did  such  funds  retard  the  growth  of  public  schools  in 
those  States  ? 

5.  What  are  the  sources  and  the  size  of  the  present  permanent 
public-school  fund  of  your  State  ?    For  what  purposes  is  the  fund  now 
used? 

6.  Did  the  operation  of  the  permanent  public-school  fund  in  your 
State  before  the  Civil  War  have  any  effect  in  retaining  the  element  of 
charity  in  public  educational  effort?    Why? 

7.  Make  a  study  of  the  growth  of  taxation  for  public  schools  in 
your  State  and  account  for  the  opposition  which  the  principle  of  taxa- 
tion for  schools  has  had  to  meet. 

8.  What  arguments  are  made  against  taxation  for  public  education — 
elementary,  secondary,  and  higher — in  your  State?    in  your  imme- 
diate community  ?    Point  out  the  weakness  of  such  arguments  as  they 
are  now  used. 

9.  Explain  why  the  older  States  often  established  permanent  funds 
before  they  set  up  a  state  school  system. 


194  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

'  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  Alabama  Journal  of  Edu- 
cation, April,  1871.  BARNARD,  articles  in  The  American  Journal  of  Education, 
30  vols.  Hartford,  1855-1881.  BOONE,  Education  in  the  United  States.  New 
York,  1893.  BOURNE,  The  History  of  the  Surplus  Revenue  of  1837.  New  York, 
1885.  BOYD,  "The  Finances  of  the  North  Carolina  Literary  Fund,"  in  The 
South  Atlantic  Quarterly,  July  and  October,  1914.  Circulars  of  information, 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education :  BUSH,  History  of  Education  in  Florida 
(Washington,  1889) ;  BLACKMAR,  History  of  Federal  and  State  Aid  to  Higher 
Education  in  the  United  States  (Washington,  1890) ;  CLARK,  History  of 
Education  in  Alabama  (Washington,  1889) ;  FAY,  History  of  Education 
in  Louisiana  (Washington,  1898) ;  JONES,  Education  in  Georgia  (Wash- 
ington, 1889) ;  LANE,  History  of  Education  in  Texas  (Washington,  1903) ; 
MAYES,  History  of  Education  in  Mississippi  (Washington,  1899) ;  MERRI- 
MAN,  Higher  Education  in  Tennessee  (Washington,  1893)  >  SHINN,  History 
of  Education  in  Arkansas  (Washington,  1900) ;  SMITH,  The  History  of  Edu- 
cation in  North  Carolina  (Washington,  1888).  DEXTER,  History  of  Educa- 
tion in  the  United  States.  New  York,  1904.  HEATWOLE,  A  History  of 
Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  Journals  of  the  Legislature  of 
the  various  States.  KNIGHT,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 
Boston,  1916.  KNIGHT,  The  Influence  of  Reconstruction  on  Education  in 
the  South.  New  York,  1913.  MAYO,  "Original  Establishment  of  State 
School  Funds,"  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education, 
1894-1895,  Vol.  II.  PERRY,  "The  Genesis  of  Public  Education  in  Alabama," 
in  Transactions  of  the  Alabama  Historical  Society,  Vol.  II.  POORE,  The 
Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  2  vols.  Washington,  1877.  Public  Docu- 
ments of  the  various  States.  SWIFT,  Public  Permanent  Common  School 
Funds  in  the  United  States.  New  York,  1911.  WEEKS,  Calvin  Henderson 
Wiley  and  the  Organization  of  the  Common  Schools  of  North  Carolina. 
Washington,  1898.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in 
Arkansas.  Washington,  1912.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education 
in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Educa- 
tion in  Tennessee  (examined  in  manuscript).  WHITAKER,  "The  Public 
School  System  of  Tennessee,  1834-1860,"  in  Tennessee  Historical  Magazine, 
Vol.  II,  No.  i. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  AWAKENING  AND  ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  The  educational  revival  during  the  second 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  a  part  of  a  broad  reform 
movement  and  was  not  confined  to  any  particular  section  of  the 
country.  The  movement  was  being  felt  throughout  the  South  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 

2.  The  response  in  Virginia  appeared  in  legislation  for  schools  as 
early  as  1829,  but  the  school  plan  most  widely  used  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  ante-bellum  period  was  defective  in  principle,  purpose, 
and  operation.     Thxaiighout-that  time,  however,  there  appeared  a  grow- 
ing sentiment  for  better  educational  opportunity  which  reflected  itself 
in  several  ways,  especially  in  the  work  of  educational  conventions,  but 
the  war  interrupted,  the  practical  improvement  promised  in  the  fifties. 

3.  South  Carolina  held  back  also  from  establishing  an  adequate  sys- 
tem of  public  schools  before  1860.    In  1835  slight  improvement  was 
made  in  the  law  of  1811,  and  the  movement  for  better  provisions* was 
agitated  constantly  during  the  next  twenty-five  years.    Several  attempts 
were  made  to  revise  the  laws  and  to  inaugurate  a  complete  system, 
but  all  efforts  for  practical  reforms  failed. 

4.  The  plan  set  up  in  Tennessee  in  1830  served  as  the  basis  of  the 
ante-bellum  school  system  in  that  State.    After  1835,  conscious  efforts 
were  made  to  improve  the  schools,  which  had  many  misfortunes  before 
1860.    Slight  improvement  was  made  by  that  date,  and  plans  for  a 
complete  reorganization  were  being  made  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

5.  The  fortunes  of  public  schools  in  North  Carolina  were  not  alto- 
gether unlike  those  of  the  other  States,  but  the  plan  of  1839  and 
improvements  in  1852  made  possible  a  school  system1  somewhat  ad- 
vanced in  support  and  control. 

6.  Georgia  showed  promise  of  providing  a  creditable  school  plan  be- 
fore 1825,  and  efforts  at  improvement  were  made  during  the  next  three 
decades.    But  the  State  failed  to  establish  more  than  a  permissive  county 
system  which  was  unfortunately  intended  primarily  for  poor  children. 

195 


196  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

7.  Similar  experiments  for  public  educational  reform  were  carried 
on  in  Louisiana,  which  was  able  to  achieve  slight  success  ;  in  Mississippi, 
where  the  subject  of  schools  was  greatly  agitated  before  the  war ;  in 
Alabama,  which  showed  marked  improvement  in  the  fifties ;  in  Arkansas, 
where  early  legislation  proved  defective  and  impracticable;  and  in 
Florida  and  Texas,  in  which  States  the  reform  movement  was  also 
th|varted  by  the  war. 

\&  The  response  of  the  Southern  States  to  the  spirit  of  the  educa- 
tional revival  was  therefore  not  complete,  but  a  new  consciousness  on 
theNsubject  was  being  aroused  at  the  close  of  the  ante-bellum  period. 

\a  Slavery,  aristocratic  conceptions,  sectarian  interests,  objection 
to  taxation  for  school  purposes,  the  rural  character  of  the  South,  poor 
means  of  communication,  and  other  factors  combined  to  retard  the 
revival  spirit. 

10.  Certain  other  factors  were  at  work,  however,  to  promote  the 
cause  of  schools,  and  considerable  progress  was  made  for  elementary 
education  in  the  South  prior  to  the  Civil  War. 

From  the  preceding  chapters  it  will  be  seen  that  during  the 
first  four  or  five  decades  of  the  national  period  education  was 
gradually  transferred  from  the  Church  and  ecclesiastical  control 
to  control  by  the  State.  But  this  transfer  was  slowly  made. 
JVIany  forces  of  an  economic,  social,  and  political  nature  had  been 
at  work  during  the  first  half  century  of  national  life,  and  out 
of  these  influences  marked  changes  appeared  in  education.  There 
was  an  expansion  in  state  constitutional  provisions  for  schools, 
and  more  specific  and  mandatory  legislative  provisions  were 
substituted  for  the  general  and  vague  provisions  of  the  earlier 
period.  New  demands  were  made  for  educational  facilities,  and 
a  new  impetus  was  given  to  state  support  and  control  of  schools. 
A  new  educational  consciousness  was  aroused,  and  toward  the 
close  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  appeared 
an  educational  revival  which  was  rapidly  and  widely  extending 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 

Several  influences  combined  to  produce  this  new  consciousness 
on  the  subject  of  schools  as  an  obligation  of  the  State.  During 
the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  appeared  a 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  197 

gradually  developing  faith  in  the  power  of  the  people.  Jeffer- 
sonian  democracy  was  rapidly  culminating.  Property  qualifications 
and  other  similar  restrictions  on  suffrage  and  officeholding  were 
slowly  abolished  and  the  franchise  was  extended.  Class  rule 
and  political  inequalities  which  had  grown  out  of  the  aristocratic 
conception  of  government  and  of  education  were  losing  and  the 
democratic  movement  was  gaining  strength.  There  was  an  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  elective  officers,  and  in  other  ways  the 
democratic  theory  of  government  was  extending.  Industrial  meth- 
ods were  slowly  changing,  larger  centers  of  population  were 
developing,  and  villages  were  forming  here  and  there.  These 
changes  were  more  rapidly  made  in  other  sections  than  in  the 
South,  but  even  there  the  nature  of  the  educational  problem  in 
the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  entirely  unlike 
that  of  the  colonial  or  the  early  national  period. 

The  educational  awakening  which  thus  appeared  was  a  part  of 
a  broad  reform  movement  in  the  development  of  sound  democratic 
ideals.  Educationally  the  storm  center  of  this  reform  was  doubt- 
less in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  where  Horace  Mann  and 
Henry  Barnard  were  conspicuous  leaders  and  where  educational 
progress  was  more  or  less  spectacular.  But  the  change  which 
was  taking  place  during  these  years  showed  itself  in  educational 
effort  in  other  sections  of  the  country  as  well  as  in  New  England. 
Awakened  sentiment  for  popular  education  appeared  in  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, and  Michigan,  and  in  a  few  of  the  Southern  States.  But 
slavery  and  its  natural  hindrances  to  the  theory  of  public  educa- 
tion and  certain  other  factors  somewhat  delayed  the  revival  in 
education  in  that  region.  Even  there,  however,  the  ground 
for  a  reorganization  of  educational  effort  was  being  prepared, 
public  opinion  was  slowly  being  molded,  and  a  general  move- 
ment for  free-school  systems  was  rapidly  gaining  in  the  fifties. 
This  movement  was  least  successful  in  those  States  which  in- 
herited the  most  persistent  English  traditions  and  where  class 
distinctions  were  most  sharply  drawn,  and  most  successful  where 


198  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

class  distinctions  were  least  pronounced  and  where  the  middle 
class  was  strongest.  Throughout  the  South  generally,  however, 
the  movement  was  being  felt  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 

Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  more  nearly  English  in  traditions 
and  interests  than  any  of  the  older  States,  reacted  only  feebly 
to  the  revival,  though  agitation  for  increased  educational  opportu- 
nity reached  creditable  proportions  in  each  State  in  the  fifties. 
It  was  pointed  out  in  preceding  chapters  that  Virginia  established 
a  permanent  school  fund  in  1810,  which  grew  into  a  large 
endowment  by  1860,  and  that  in  a  very  small  measure  the  State 
committed  itself  to  the  theory  of  its  renowned  educational 
statesman  when  it  enacted  the  law  of  1818.  It  was  also  pointed 
out  that  conditions  in  South  Carolina  were  not  altogether  unlike 
those  in  Virginia  and  that  the  theory  of  education  was  practically 
the  same  in  each  State.  South  Carolina  had  given  attention  to  the 
subject  of  public  schools  and  had  adopted  a  school  plan  for 
the  poorer  citizens;  but  the  law  of  1811,  which  served  as  the 
legal  basis  of  the  State's  entire  ante-bellum  educational  legisla- 
tion, was  so  defective  in  principle  as  to  prevent  its  own  success. 

The  school  plan  created  in  Virginia  by  the  act  of  February, 
1818,  was  at  first  very  clumsy,  though  Governor  Preston  said 
in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  the  following  December  that 
the  plan  promised  great  success.  From  the  limited  experiments 
made  by  the  school  officials,  from  some  of  whom  reports  had 
been  received,  he  believed  that  "most  important  advantages  to 
the  community  may  be  derived  from  their  efforts  under  the  law 
of  the  last  session."  But  the  system  was  not  to  be  very  success- 
ful. The  early  reports  on  its  operation  showed  numerous  ob- 
stacles, some  of  which  were  not  contemplated  when  the  plan 
was  made.  Among  these  were  insufficiency  of  funds,  a  lack  of 
convenient  schools,  a  lack  of  decent  food  and  clothing  (which 
"deters  parents  from  exposing  their  poverty  to  the  world"), 
a  lack  of  individual  zeal,  and  the  inability  of  parents  to  clothe 
and  feed  their  children  "so  as  to  make  them  regular  scholars." 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  199 

Extreme  poverty  in  one  county  led  to  the  suggestion  that  the 
county  commissioners  should  furnish  "  cheap  clothing  for  a  number 
of  poor  children  whose  parents  and  guardians  are  too  indigent 
to  admit  of  furnishing  them."  In  some  counties  it  was  practically 
impossible,  on  account  of  the  sparseness  of  population,  to  secure 
teachers ;  and  many  of  those  who  were  teaching  in  the  State 
would  not  have  been  chosen  had  there  been  competition  in  their 
selection,  though  teachers  of  "correct  morals"  were  usually 
engaged.  It  also  appeared  that  some  of  those  who  were  taught 
during  the  early  operation  of  the  system  were  themselves  later 
engaged  to  teach  in  the  schools  which  they  had  attended. 

As  early  as  1826  serious  questions  began  to  be  raised  about 
the  system,  which  was  reported  as  not  meeting  "  the  just  expecta- 
tions of  the  State."  The  literary  fund,  which  at  that  time  had  a 
large  permanent  capital,  was  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  pur- 
poses of  charity.  In  that  year  the  governor  recommended  the 
suspension  of  the  entire  system  until  the  work  could  be  renewed 
on  a  more  extended  and  satisfactory  plan.  This  part  of  his 
message  was  referred  to  the  appropriate  legislative  committee, 
which  made  a  suggestive  investigation  and  report.  The  com- 
mittee applauded  the  educational  efforts  of  other  States,  but 
declared  that  Virginia  should  not  be  "  insensible  to  the  fact,  that  in 
this  generous  career,  in  which  .  .  .  she  might  have  been  expected 
to  be  a  leader,  her  young  sisters  have  preceded  her."  If  the  sys- 
tem had  not  utterly  failed,  the  report  continued,  it  had  not  been 
productive  of  the  beneficial  results  which  had  been  anticipated. 
Moreover,  the  official  reports  of  the  school  commissioners,  per- 
sonal observation,  and  "the  general  opinion  of  those  most  con- 
versant with  the  practical  operation  of  the  system "  confirmed  the 
governor's  opinion.  The  committee  concluded  that  the  failure 
of  the  system  was  not  due  to  accidental  defects  in  the  details 
of  its  administration,  but  to  permanent  and  inherent  weaknesses 
in  the  principle  of  the  plan.  It  was  recommended  that  it 
was  inexpedient  either  to  suspend  the  system  or  to  apply  the 
funds  exclusively  to  the  education  of  the  poor;  that  the  annual 


200  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

appropriation  should  be  applied  generally ;  that  there  should  be 
a  combination  of  private  contributions  or  tuition  fees  with  the 
public  bounty ;  and  that  an  assessment  should  be  authorized  to 
supply  the  necessary  funds  when  the  annual  appropriation  and  the 
tuition  fees  were  insufficient. 

These  recommendations  later  led  indirectly  to  the  passage  of 
a  law  in  1829  which  became  the  basis  of  the  so-called  u  district 
free-school  system"  of  the  State.  By  this  law  the  school  com- 
missioners were  authorized  to  divide  their  counties  into  con- 
venient school  districts,  and  when  the  inhabitants  of  a  district 
raised  by  voluntary  contribution  three  fifths  of  the  amount 
necessary  to  erect  "a  good  and  sufficient  schoolhouse,"  the  local 
authorities  could  appropriate  the  remaining  two  fifths  for  that 
purpose  out  of  the  usual  county  appropriation  from  the  income 
from  the  literary  fund,  provided  it  did  not  exceed  10  per  cent  of 
that  appropriation.  The  school  building  and  lot  were  to  become 
the  property  of  the  State.  The  local  authorities  could  appropriate 
$100  out  of  the  regular  county  appropriation  ufor  the  employ- 
ment of  a  good  and  sufficient  teacher"  for  such  a  school,  pro- 
vided a  like  or  greater  amount  should  be  raised  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district.  The  school  was  to  be  open  free  to  all  white  chil- 
dren of  the  district  and  to  be  under  the  control  of  three  dis- 
trict trustees,  two  of  whom  were  to  be  elected  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district  and  the  third  appointed  by  the  county  school 
commissioners.  The  same  act  allowed  teachers  four  cents  a  day 
for  instructing  each  poor  child  entered  by  the  commissioners, 
but  no  allowance  was  to  be  made  for  any  child  who  was  not 
actually  entered  by  a  county  commissioner.  Further  provision 
was  made  by  which  the  commissioners  could  purchase  books, 
stationery,  and  other  necessary  school  articles  for  poor  children, 
provided  such  expenditure  did  not  exceed  5  per  cent  of  the  annual 
school  quota  of  the  county. 

A  few  counties  took  preliminary  steps  immediately  to  adopt 
the  new  system,  but  it  was  never  more  than  partially  established 
by  any.  By  1835  the  district  free-school  system  had  been 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  201 

partially  adopted  in  Monroe,  Franklin,  Campbell,  Southampton, 
Smyth,  and  Washington  counties,  but  in  all  of  these,  except  the 
last,  it  was  finally  discontinued  or  abandoned.  It  was  evident 
that  the  legal  provisions  were  insufficient  to  promote  the.  plan. 
Campbell  County  reported  in  1836  that  its  school  was  "dormant 
for  the  last  year  owing  to  a  providential  state  of  things  beyond 
the  control  of  man " ;  and  the  commissioners  in  most  of  the 
other  counties  where  the  experiment  was  tried  soon  came  to  take 
no  notice  of  the  "  free-school "  attempts,  but  gave  their  attention 
to  the  education  of  the  poor  under  the  plan  inaugurated  in  1818. 
In  Washington  County,  however,  the  system  showed  some  prom- 
ise of  success.  In  1835  thirty-eight  of  its  fifty-four  districts 
had  free  schools  in  houses  built  largely  at  the  expense  of  the 
local  communities,  and  two  years  later  thirty-one  of  its  fifty 
districts  had  schools  under  the  law  of  1829. 

In  1840  some  of  the  county  commissioners  referred  to  the 
district  plan  of  1829  and  recommended  its  continuance  and 
gradual  introduction  into  the  counties  of  the  State.  It  was  sug- 
gested that  legislation  be  enacted  authorizing  the  counties  dis- 
posed to  adopt  the  plan  to  raise  by  levies  upon  themselves  the 
amount  of  any  deficiencies  which  existed  after  the  funds  of  the 
State  and  the  voluntary  contributions  had  been  applied.  Lack 
of  funds  and  the  permissive  character  of  the  legislation,  however, 
were  not  the  only  obstacles  confronting  the  plan.  There  were 
only  eleven  white  people  to  the  square  mile  in  the  State  and 
only  three  of  school  age,  and  this  sparsity  of  population  operated 
seriously  against  the  practicability  of  the  system.  Moreover, 
it  contained  a  charity  feature  which  greatly  limited  its  possibilities 
for  usefulness,  and  for  that  reason  it  was  only  a  slight  improve- 
ment over  the  plan  of  1818.  Attempts  to  improve  the  district 
free-school  system  in  the  forties  will  be  noted  farther  on  in  this 
chapter. 

With  the  exception  of  the  law  of  1829,  which  gave  only  slight 
stimulus  to  educational  effort  in  the  State,  conditions  continued 
unchanged.  The  system  inaugurated  in  1818  had  undergone 


202  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

little  or  no  improvement  in  organization  or  administration,  but 
it  was  doubtless  ministering  to  the  educational  needs  of  many 
children  who  would  otherwise  have  been  entirely  neglected. 
The  actual  operation  of  the  system  and  the  place  it  held  in 
popular  esteem  may  be  viewed  measurably  well  from  represent- 
ative reports  of  the  county  commissioners  between  1830  and  1850. 

From  these  reports  it  appeared  that  the  commissioners  in 
Albemarle  County  were  not  in  the  habit  of  examining  the  quali- 
fications of  the  teachers.  Sparseness  of  population  in  Bath  County 
prevented  the  maintenance  of  schools  in  "many  neighborhoods 
where  some  children  reside  who  are  proper  objects  of  the  fund." 
The  commissioners  resided  at  such  a  distance  from  the  schools 
that  they  were  unable  to  "give  much  satisfactory  informa- 
tion" concerning  the  state  of  education  in  their  county.  Brooke 
County  gave  no  preference  "either  to  boys  or  girls"  and  Cabell 
County  followed  the  same  policy.  There  were  many  poor  children 
in  the  latter  county  who  "would  have  remained  in  entire  igno- 
rance of  the  elementary  branches  of  education  "  but  for  the  annual 
appropriation  from  the  literary  fund. 

The  children  sent  to  school  in  Campbell  County  "progressed 
in  learning  as  well  as  other  children  of  equal  capacities."  The 
commissioners  in  one  year  failed  to  report  "agreeable  to  law" 
on  account  of  a  heavy  rain  on  the  day  previous  to  their  annual 
meeting,  which  prevented  them  from  attending.  In  Cumberland 
County  the  children  sent  to  school  were  between  eight  and 
fifteen  years  of  age,  preference  being  given  to  the  eldest.  In  one 
year  no  children  were  sent  to  school  in  Fayette  County  because 
the  treasurer  had  neglected  to  draw  the  county's  quota  of  the 
fund.  No  distinction  was  made  between  girls  and  boys  in  Floyd 
County ;  the  commissioners  had  difficulty  in  securing  good  teach- 
ers, "but  they  think  this  will  soon  be  obviated,  as  the  coun- 
try becomes  more  enlightened."  The  commissioners  of  Franklin 
County  believed  the  funds  should  be  confined  to  poor  children. 
The  quota  allowed  Goochland  County  was  as  much  "as  can  be 
beneficially  applied  under  the  present  system";  the  commissioners 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  203 

thought  it  impracticable  to  district  "the  county,  as  authorized 
by  law."  The  commissioners  of  Grayson  County  made  provision 
for  the  children  between  eight  and  fifteen  years  of  age  and 
"only  such  whose  parents,  guardians,  or  friends,  promise  their 
constant  and  punctual  attendance."  If  a  sufficient  number  of 
teachers  could  have  been  secured  in  Hardy  County  "very  great 
advantages  might  result  from  the  funds  appropriated  to  the 
education  of  the  poor."  The  commissioners  in  Isle  of  Wight 
County  considered  as  coming  within  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"indigent"  those  children  whose  parents  were  "unable  to  pay 
their  just  debts,  and  others  who  have  but  little  property."  The 
teachers  of  Kanawha  County  were  known  to  be  of  good  moral 
character  and  "capable  of  instructing  in  the  common  rudiments 
of  education." 

Good  teachers  could  not  be  had  in  every  neighborhood  in 
Mason  County,  where  "the  settlement  is  too  thin  to  afford  a 
numerous  school."  The  commissioners  of  Monongalia  County 
believed  the  system  very  defective,  though  they  were  unable  to 
suggest  corrective  measures.  They  did  believe,  however,  that 
the  qualifications  of  teachers  should  be  more  carefully  guarded : 
"many  of  the  teachers  are  but  little  qualified,  and  a  great  waste 
of  public  money  is  the  consequence."  Morgan  County  had  diffi- 
culty in  securing  good  teachers.  The  quota  allowed  Northum- 
berland County  was  "amply  sufficient  to  educate"  all  its  poor 
children.  The  commissioners  of  Norfolk  Borough  appropriated 
their  quota  of  the  school  fund  to  "the  Lancaster  school,"  the 
trustees  of  which  agreed  to  educate  the  poor  children  sent  by 
the  commissioners;  and  a  female  orphan  asylum,  maintained  by 
private  benevolence,  seems  to  have  received  slight  aid  from  the 
state  bounty.  In  Nottoway  County  it  was  not  difficult  to  find 
"  fit  subjects  to  be  sent  to  school :  it  is,  to  appearance,  a  scuffle 
as  to  who  shall  be  sent."  The  children  were  taught  only  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic  in  Orange  County.  No  preference  was 
given  to  either  sex,  "  as  the  commissioners  conceive  that  degree  of 
education  necessary  for  girls  as  well  as  boys."  Four  Sunday 


204  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

schools  in  Petersburg,  with  ninety  teachers  and  six  hundred 
"scholars  on  their  registers,"  a  night  school  maintained  by  the 
Mechanics'  Benevolent  Association  and  open  to  the  children 
or  the  apprentices  of  the  members,  and  an  infant  school  "skill- 
fully and  faithfully  taught"  furnished  unusual  educational  op- 
portunity for  that  community.  But  the  benefits  of  these  schools 
were  not  generally  extended  to  the  poor  children  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  the  commissioners  believed  that  State  aid  should  be 
given  to  those  schools  in  return  for  instructing  some  poor  children. 

The  teachers  of  Prince  Edward  County  were  not  examined. 
Schools  were  scarce  in  Prince  George  County,  and  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  get  the  children  to  attend  such  schools  as  were  accessible 
to  the  various  neighborhoods.  Some  of  the  children  received 
benefit  in  Pittsylvania  County,  while  others,  "owing  to  the 
incompetency  of  the  teachers,"  received  but  little  benefit.  Teach- 
ers were  not  examined  in  Randolph  County.  Many  of  the 
teachers  in  Rockbridge  County  were  "of  correct  moral  deport- 
ment." All  the  teachers  in  Southhampton  County  were  "ex- 
amined as  to  their  qualifications  and  moral  character,"  and  Smyth 
County  had  "adopted  rules  for  the  examination  of  teachers." 

In  the  main  these  conditions  continued  practically  unchanged 
throughout  the  ante-bellum  period.  In  1837  Governor  David 
Campbell  had  asked  the  Legislature  why  it  had  failed  to  make 
adequate  educational  provision  for  the  State;  he  was  alarmed 
at  the  extent  of  illiteracy,  which  he  regarded  as  humiliating. 
A  year  later  he  said  that  the  system  established  in  1818  was  not 
only  defective  in  principle  but  imperfectly  administered,  and  he 
doubted  if  much  good  had  been  actually  accomplished  since 
it  was  put  in  operation.  In  that  year  there  were  200,000  children 
in  the  State  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen.  Fully  40,000 
of  them  were  poor  and  only  half  of  that  number  were  in  school. 
Those  in  school,  the  governor  said,  derived  little  or  no  instruction 
"owing  to  the  incapacity  of  the  teachers,  as  well  as  to  their 
culpable  negligence  and  inattention."  The  number  likely  to 
remain  uneducated  was  "really  of  appalling  magnitude,"  and  the 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  205 

literary  destitution  of  such  a  large  portion  of  the  population 
demanded  a  reorganization  of  the  school  system  and  ample  pro- 
visions for  putting  it  into  successful  practice.  The  present  sys- 
tem, looking  only  to  the  poor  and  insufficiently  supported,  could 
not  be  effective  in  promoting  any  general  reformation  of  the 
undesirable  conditions. 

The  entire  scheme  was  generally  considered  defective  and 
unwholesome.  By  discriminating  between  classes  in  the  com- 
munity the  plan  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  poorer  people,  for 
whom  it  was  designed,  and  they  were  generally  unwilling  to  pro- 
claim themselves  paupers  by  accepting  the  scant  charity  thus 
extended  them  by  the  State.  Moreover,  the  plan  was  separated 
from  the  interest  and  influence  of  the  public  by  the  provision 
which  placed  the  appointment  of  the  county  commissioners,  who 
were  to  administer  the  annual  appropriation  of  the  literary  fund, 
in  the  hands  of  the  county  courts  which  had  so  effectively  ob- 
structed the  inauguration  of  the  system  provided  by  the  law 
of  1796.  These  defects  alone  were  sufficient  to  defeat  the  system, 
but  educational  advancement  was  also  seriously  retarded  because 
the  plan  made  no  demand  on  local  initiative  and  community  effort. 
Although  occasional  amendments  made  to  the  original  act  served 
clumsily  as  devices  for  mitigating  the  disappointment  of  the  friends 
of  education  and  for  decreasing  the  hostility  of  the  class  for  whom 
the  plan  was  established,  yet  the  Legislature  remained  inactive  and 
furnished  no  permanent  relief. 

In  December,  1841,  Governor  Rutherford  believed  that  some 
form  of  taxation  should  be  authorized  for  public  schools,  but 
the  Legislature  remained  inactive.  A  year  later  Superintendent 
Francis  H.  Smith,  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  in  a  com- 
munication to  the  governor,  said  that  the  school  system  was  both 
"defective  and  inoperative,"  and  he  appealed  to  those  in  authority 
for  a  remedy.  In  1843  Governor  McDowell  called  attention  to  the 
educational  need  of  the  State,  saying:  "I  should  be  faithless  to 
one  of  my  clearest  and  most  honorable  duties  if  I  did  not  present 
it  again,  and  again  invoke  for  it  the  care,  the  thought  and  the 


206  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

legislation  to  which  it  is  entitled."  He  urged  taxation  for  school 
support.  In  1844  and  again  in  1845  tne  same  governor  called 
attention  to  the  important  subject.  "I  should  rejoice,"  he  said, 
"to  be  spared  the  necessity  of  the  duty,  but  neither  I  nor  any 
executive  ever  can  be,  so  long  as  the  legislative  and  statistical 
history  of  this  subject  remains  as  it  is."  It  was  time,  he  believed, 
for  the  Legislature  to  decide  whether  education  was  to  be  regarded 
as  a  private  concern  or  as  an  interest  of  the  State. 

During  these  years,  however,  a  growing  sentiment  had  appeared 
in  favor  of  better  educational  opportunity  and  had  reflected  itself 
in  a  series  of  educational  conventions.  These  meetings  were 
largely  the  result  of  a  rising  educational  sentiment  in  the  western 
counties.  Most  of  the  colleges  of  the  State  and  the  larger  part  of 
the  academies  were  located  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  great  divid- 
ing mountain  range,  which  was  slaveholding  and  aristocratic.  In 
the  western  counties  slavery  was  less  extensive,  and  there  grad- 
ually developed  a  middle  class  whose  influence  was  beginning  to 
be  felt.  In  this  region  public  educational  sentiment  was  whole- 
some and  strong ;  it  was  the  vote  of  the  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature from  this  region  which  had  passed  the  educational  law  of 
1796,  of  1810,  and  of  1829.  In  the  eastern  counties,  more  aristo- 
cratic and  wealthy,  education  was  regarded  as  a  private  and 
domestic  concern;  in  the  western  section  education  by  tutors  or 
private  schools  was  not  available  for  the  masses.  And  the  agitation 
for  public  schools  was  strong. 

One  of  these  conventions  had  been  held  in  Clarksburg,  now  in 
West  Virginia,  hi  the  autumn  of  1841,  and  had  been  attended  by 
more  than  one  hundred  delegates,  many  of  whom  were  very  promi- 
nent. Educational  subjects  were  discussed,  and  committees  were 
appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  State  and  a 
memorial  to  the  Legislature.  Another  convention  was  held  in 
Lexington,  and  delegates  attended  from  Augusta,  Bath,  Botetourt, 
and  Rockbridge  counties.  The  meeting  was  presided  over  by 
Dr.  Henry  Ruffner,  president  of  Washington  College  (now  Wash- 
ington and  Lee  University)  and  father  of  William  H.  Ruffner, 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  207 

Virginia's  celebrated  educational  leader  from  1870  to  1882.  As 
a  result  of  this  meeting  Dr.  Ruffner  prepared  and  had  pre- 
sented to  the  Legislature  a  report  which  pointed  out  the  defects 
of  the  school  system  of  the  State  and  suggested  a  remedy.  The 
remedy  proposed  was  state  taxation,  a  state  board  of  educa- 
tion, a  state  superintendent,  county  and  local  organization  and 
supervision,  normal  schools  and  provisions  for  training  teachers, 
public  libraries,  and  other  features  of  an  advanced  school  system. 
The  chief  weakness  of  the  plan  appeared  in  its  failure  to  leave 
out  the  weakening  principle  of  Virginia's  ante-bellum  educa- 
tional scheme ;  the  schools  were  to  be  supported  by  taxation,  but 
the  local  school  officers  were  to  designate  the  families  most  worthy 
of  aid.1  About  the  same  time  a  convention  was  held  in  Rich- 
mond and  was  attended  by  more  than  one  hundred  delegates, 
among  whom  were  several  members  of  the  Legislature.  The 
meeting  recommended  and  adopted  a  plan  for  a  district  free- 
school  system,  similar  to  that  attempted  in  1829,  and  prepared 
a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  and  an  address  to  the  people. 
A  bill  based  on  the  plan  proposed  was  passed  by  the  House, 
but  rejected  by  the  Senate. 

In  1845  another  convention  met  in  Richmond,  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  Legislature,  and  a  local  committee  was  appointed 
to  watch  its  effect  on  that  body.  The  result  was  a  report  of 
the  legislative  committee  on  education,  which  declared  that  the 
"present  plan  had  both  failed  of  its  ends  and  is  condemned 
on  public  principles."  The  committee  suggested  a  plan  which 
promised  to  serve  as  a  "nucleus  for  further  reforms."  The  plan 
proposed  a  state  superintendent,  a  transfer  of  the  appointment 
of  county  commissioners  from  the  county  courts  to  the  people, 
taxation,  a  rate  bill  on  all  (except  the  poor)  for  school  support, 
and  provisions  for  training  teachers. 

Largely  as  a  result  of  this  report  the  laws  on  the  subject  of 
education  were  amended  and  somewhat  improved  in  1846,  though 
the  weakening  element  of  charity  still  persisted.  The  local  courts 

1Jouraal  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  1841-1842,  Document  7. 


208  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

were  given  authority  to  lay  off  their  counties  or  corporations  and 
to  appoint  county  commissioners  who  were  to  elect  county  superin- 
tendents. These  officers  were  to  have  control  of  the  county 
systems  and  to  handle  the  school  finances,  receiving  as  their  com- 
pensation for  such  services  2^2  per  cent  on  all  amounts  actually 
expended  for  educational  purposes.  The  commissioners  were  to 
see  to  the  education  of  indigent  children  and  enter  with  the  teach- 
ers in  their  localities  such  number  of  such  children  as  their  county 
quota  of  the  literary  fund  would  allow,  paying  for  their  tuition 
as  usual.  The  other  provisions  of  the  act  were  similar  to  previous 
educational  legislation  in  the  State.  However,  if  the  plan  pro- 
vided by  this  act  failed  to  meet  the  wants  or  approval  of  any  com- 
munity, then  the  county  courts,  on  petition  of  one  fourth  of  the 
legal  voters  of  the  county,  could  order  an  election  on  the  ques- 
tion of  district  free  schools,  two  thirds  of  the  legal  voters  being 
necessary  to  carry  such  an  election. 

At  the  same  time  another  act  was  passed  which  gave  the 
county  courts  authority  to  order  an  election  on  the  subject 
of  free  district  schools  on  petition  of  one  third  of  the  qualified 
voters,  and  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  legal  voters  was  required 
to  carry  the  election.  The  schools  established  under  the  provi- 
sions of  this  act  were  to  be  open  free  to  all  white  children  above 
the  age  of  six  years  and  were  to  give  instruction  in  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic,  "and  (where  it  is  practicable)  English 
grammar,  geography,  history  (especially  that  of  the  State  of 
Virginia  and  of  the  United  States),  and  the  elements  of  physical 
science,  and  such  other  and  higher  branches  as  the  school  com- 
missioners may  direct."  The  district  trustees  were  to  provide 
the  building  and  elect  the  teachers;  the  expenses,  including  the 
teacher's  salary  were  to  be  paid  "by  a  uniform  rate  of  increased 
taxation"  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  county  in  addition  to 
the  county's  quota  from  the  income  of  the  literary  fund.  Towns 
could  adopt  the  system  separate  from  the  county,  and  after 
a  year's  trial  any  county  or  town  could  reject  it  by  a  ma- 
jority vote.  This  law  seemed  an  improvement,  and  the  plan 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  209 

which  it  provided  would  have  changed  the  educational  condition 
of  the  State  had  it  been  mandatory  on  the  counties.  But  it  was 
left  optional  with  the  counties  to  adopt  or  reject  the  plan  pro- 
posed, and,  like  the  act  of  1796,  the  law  of  1846  failed  of  its 
purpose.  During  the  next  few  years  slight  changes  were  made 
in  the  legislation  of  1846,  but  they  produced  but  little  practical 
improvement. 

By  1847  the  inconvenience  of  so  many  varying  legislative 
provisions  for  the  same  object  was  apparent.  Under  the  law  of 
the  State  any  county  could  select  "any  district  system  of  schools 
which  may  have  been  adopted  by  any  county  of  this  common- 
wealth, or  which  may  have  been  previously  passed  into  a  law  by 
the  General  Assembly."  The  plan  formulated  in  1818  for  edu- 
cating the  poor  was  still  the  plan  most  generally  followed  in  the 
State,  and  this  continued  to  be  followed  until  the  Civil  War.  As 
for  the  so-called  district  free-school  plan,  attempted  first  in  1829 
and  amended  in  the  forties,  this  was  partially  adopted  in  only  a 
few  counties  and  never  proved  very  successful  in  any.  The  plan 
of  1829  seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  successful  in  Washington 
County  for  a  few  years,  but  it  was  soon  abandoned  in  the  other 
counties  where  it  was  tried.  However,  by  legislation  of  1846  a  cer- 
tain slight  stimulus  was  given  to  the  district  free-school  system, 
which  continued  until  the  war.  It  was  partially  adopted  in  per- 
haps a  dozen  counties  and  three  or  four  towns,  but  it  was  never 
very  popular.  Its  chief  weakness  was  its  lack  of  mandatory  provi- 
sions for  taxation  for  school  support.  Lack  of  funds,  however, 
was  not  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  its  general  introduction ; 
sparsity  of  population  also  operated  against  the  practicability  of 
the  system. 

Slight  educational  improvement  was  made  in  Virginia  in  the 
fifties,  and  in  the  closing  years  of  that  decade  sentiment  in  favor 
of  increased  educational  opportunity  began  to  show  itself.  With 
the  revision  of  the  constitution  in  1851  provision  was  made  for 
applying  one  half  of  the  capitation  taxes  "to  the  purposes  of 
education  in  primary  and  free  schools."  This  was  the  first  time 


210  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  constitution  of  the  State  had  anything  to  say  about  edu- 
cation. In  that  year  the  permanent  available  capital  of  the 
literary  fund  amounted  to  $1,571,000,  with  an  income  of  $101,000, 
and  the  annual  appropriation  for  school  purposes  was  increased 
at  that  time  from  $45,000  to  $75,000.  The  friends  of  schools 
believed  that  with  the  additional  revenue  from  the  capitation 
taxes  new  energy  would  be  put  into  the  educational  work  of  the 
State,  which  was  described  as  "inefficient  and  defective."  In 
1853  the  Legislature  appropriated  to  education  all  the  capita- 
tion taxes,  which  were  expected  to  amount  to  about  $52,000. 
This  and  the  annual  appropriation  of  $75,000  from  the  literary 
fund  promised  increased  facilities  for  the  instruction  of  a  large  but 
worthy  class  of  children. 

The  educational  sentiment  of  this  period  was  perhaps  best 
reflected  in  the  proceedings  of  two  sessions  of  the  Virginia  Edu- 
cational Convention  held  in  Richmond  in  1856  and  1857,  and 
representing  the  interests  of  the  academies  and  colleges  of  the 
State.  The  first  meeting  was  held  in  July,  1856,  and  committees 
were  appointed  to  study  the  educational  condition  of  the  State 
and  to  report  at  another  meeting  which  was  to  be  held  the  fol- 
lowing year.  The  second  convention  assembled  in  August,  1857, 
and  the  reports  of  these  committees  were  heard.  Chief  among 
these  was  the  report  from  the  committee  on  the  literary  fund. 

This  committee  reported  that  the  revenue  from  this  fund  had 
been  applied  "exclusively  to  the  poor  children,"  except  where  the 
district  free-school  system  had  been  adopted,  and  where  there 
was  a  surplus  beyond  the  actual  needs  of  the  poor,  when  the 
county  authorities  could  transfer  such  surplus  to  any  incorporated 
college  or  academy  in  their  counties.  Such  transfers  were  not 
frequently  made,  however,  if  at  all.  The  report  said  that  the 
benefits  derived  from  the  principal  distribution  of  the  fund  were 
very  "problematical"  and  pointed  out  that  the  school  endowment 
was  the  property  of  all  the  people: 

We  therefore  meet  at  once  a  moral  question.  Is  it  right  to  take  the 
property  of  the  many  and  bestow  it  exclusively  on  the  few?  .  .  . 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  211 

They  are  the  privileged  class,  the  aristocracy  of  poverty.  Now  is  it 
right  to  exclude  from  all  the  benefits  of  the  literary  fund  all  the 
children  of  this  glorious  old  commonwealth,  except  those  who  put  in 
the  plea  of  rags  and  dirt?  .  .  .  Can  this  injustice  and  partiality  benefit 
the  poor  children?  Is  it  a  law  of  humanity,  that  to  lift  up,  you  must 
first  degrade,  that  to  elevate  the  soul  and  spirit  of  a  child,  you  must 
first  make  him  a  public  pauper  ?  .  .  .  Has  the  pauper  system  of  edu- 
cation diminished  the  number  of  your  intellectual  paupers?  Or  is  it, 
like  every  other  system  of  legally  supported  pauperism,  a  fire  that 
feeds  itself? 

The  partial  manner  of  distribution  was  not  the  only  criti- 
cism of  the  fund  and  its  operation.  The  practice  of  paying 
teachers  from  three  to  six  cents  a  day  for  each  poor  child  taught 
was  vicious  in  its  effects  and  tended  to  dwarf  rather  than  to  liber- 
alize the  spirit  of  teacher,  child,  and  parent.  The  management 
of  the  fund  was  also  criticized,  and  Governor  Henry  A.  Wise 
was  requested  to  furnish  the  convention  with  any  information 
which  he  had  concerning  the  fund  and  its  management.  The 
governor  stated  at  the  outset,  in  complying  with  the  request,  that 
the  law  applying  the  capitation  taxes  to  education  had  not  been 
observed,  in  that  this  source  of  school  support  had  not  been 
promptly  applied  to  the  literary  fund.  As  a  result,  between 
$100,000  and  $150,000  had  accumulated  and  was  not  being  used 
for  purposes  of  education.  Moreover,  fully  one  fifth  of  the  capital 
of  the  literary  fund  had  been  reported  lost  or  given  away  on  ac- 
count of  poor  investments,  poor  management,  and  debts  due  from 
defaulting  officers ;  and  in  addition  to  this  loss,  loans  to  institu- 
tions amounting  to  $223,000  had  been  released  by  unconstitutional 
legislative  action.  Besides,  there  were  constant  accumulations  in 
the  treasury  which  should  have  been  invested,  and  under  the 
method  used  it  was  almost  impossible  to  prevent  surpluses  from 
lying  idle  in  the  hands  of  the  county  superintendents.  Some  of 
the  facts  which  Governor  Wise  gave  have  a  certain  interest  in 
this  connection. 

The  executive  pointed  out  that  of  the  total  funds  available 
for  education  between  the  years  1852  and  1856,  inclusive,  nearly 


212  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

40  per  cent  was  not  applied  to  that  purpose.  The  amounts  of 
school  money  continuously  in  the  hands  of  the  superintendents 
of  schools  were  more  than  one  third  of  the  total  amount  paid  by 
them  for  educational  purposes.  On  the  county  quotas  which  the 
superintendents  drew  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  they  received 
a  commission  of  5  per  cent  and  also  had  continuous  use  of  at 
least  one  third  of  the  entire  quota  without  any  interest  charge. 
At  the  current  rate  of  interest  this  amount  was  not  an  inconsider- 
able sum.  During  the  years  under  consideration  the  average 
annual  sum  expended  by  the  superintendents  was  more  than 
$159,000  and  the  average  annual  balance  left  in  their  hands 
was  above  $52,000;  on  these  sums  they  received  a  commission 
of  5  per  cent  and  had  the  use  of  the  $52,000  without  any  interest 
charge.  The  governor  also  pointed  out  that  the  practice  of  using 
for  private  purposes  the  unexpended  balances  of  the  school  quotas 
had  grown  very  common  among  the  county  superintendents, 
who  did  not  think  it  wrong  or  illegal  to  use  the  funds  in  this  man- 
ner rather  than  have  them  idle.  Although  fully  one  third  of  the 
county  quotas  was  regularly  left  in  the  hands  of  these  officers 
at  the  end  of  each  school  year,  it  was  customary  to  draw  in 
advance  the  full  quota  apportioned  to  the  county. 

Notes  in  bank  are  paid  with  these  quotas.  Orders,  for  example,  are 
often  sent  to  Richmond  to  draw  the  county  quotas,  and  accompanying 
these  are  orders  to  pay  out  of  the  amounts  various  private  bills  and 
debts  in  this  very  city.  .  .  .  This  is  common,  and  yet  not  considered 
wrong  or  illegal. 

Continuing,  the  governor  said: 

The  truth  is  that  the  pauper  children  do  not  partake  of  the  bounty  in 
any  considerable  proportion  at  all.  The  poor  little  girls  without  fly-flap 
bonnets  and  the  little  shoeless  boys  do  not  go  to  school,  because  the 
shame  of  poverty  keeps  them  away  from  that  charity  which  points  its 
finger  at  their  indigence.  The  fact  is  that  the  larger  portion  of  parents 
whose  children  take  the  bounty,  are  those  who  are  able  to  pay  for 
tuition.  The  poor  are  driven  away  from  the  fund,  and  it  is  used  as  a 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  213 

mere  auxiliary  for  those  who  have  enough  of  their  own  to  educate  their 
children ;  and  the  application  of  the  fund  in  the  present  mode  has,  in 
many  instances,  the  injurious  effect  of  relaxing  their  efforts  to  es- 
tablish and  keep  up  efficient  schools.  The  pretext  then  that  this  bread 
is  needed  to  feed  the  poor,  is  but  the  art  of  misapplying  the  funds  for 
education.  The  poor  are  not  fed  by  it  at  all,  and  those  for  whom  it 
is  applied  do  not  obtain  much  more  than  half  the  amount  which  the 
State  provides.  ...  I  repeat,  then,  that  a  large  amount  of  our  means 
is  withheld.  That  another  large  amount  is  diverted  from  the  purposes 
fixed  by  the  constitution  and  the  law.  That  another  large  amount  is 
permitted  to  remain  idle  in  the  hands  of  fiduciaries,  or  they  are  using 
a  portion  of  the  public  funds  for  private  purposes,  without  interest  or 
other  consideration.  That  the  cost  of  disbursing  the  amount  which  is 
expended  is  too  great,1  and  is  greater  than  the  law  allows.  That  this 
is  a  temptation  to  a  breach  of  trust,  and  to  keep  up  the  abuses  of  the 
system  and  the  misapplication  of  the  funds  for  education.  .  .  .  That 
the  whole  present  system  is  calculated  to  shame  the  poor  and  to  relax 
those  who  have  means  among  the  people,  and  is,  to  use  the  lightest 
phrase,  a  "sink  pocket"  to  the  public  treasury.  .  .  .  Whether  we 
mean,  then,  to  make  bad  scholars  or  good  teachers,  the  present  system 
must  be  reformed.  We  must  husband  our  capital  of  the  literary  fund 
better;  we  must  collect  its  income,  guard  it  more  sacredly,  keep  its 
accounts  more  strictly,  apply  more  of  it  to  educational  purposes,  and 
apply  it  in  the  right  way. 

Such  criticisms  as  these  made  the  system  appear  very  defec- 
tive. Governor  Wise  was  of  the  opinion  that  "it  was  originally 
devised  and  intended  to  defeat  Mr.  Jefferson's  large  and  liberal 
plan  of  education."  Attention  therefore  turned  toward  three 
questions  of  reform  which  the  convention  and  the  governor  con- 
sidered :  the  complete  abolition  of  the  principle  of  charity  which 
the  system  had  always  contained ;  the  establishment  of  expert 
supervision  and  instruction ;  and  the  creation  of  an  affiliated  sys- 
tem of  schools  providing  for  primary  education,  a  system  of 
higher  schools,  and  for  the  training  of  teachers.  On  these  sug- 
gested reforms  a  thoroughgoing  plan  was  proposed  to  supersede 
the  system  then  in  operation  and  to  correlate  all  educational 

xThe  governor  showed  that  it  cost  8£  per  cent  to  administer  the  fund. 


214  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

agencies  in  the  State  under  the  supervision  of  the  University. 
The  plan  included  primary  schools  for  the  children  between  the 
ages  of  seven  and  twelve,  higher  primary  schools  for  the  children 
between  twelve  and  sixteen,  twelve  colleges  for  the  pupils  above 
the  ages  of  sixteen  who  were  "fit  for  college,  institute,  and  uni- 
versity," a  medical  college,  a  military  institute,  agricultural 
schools,  and  a  university.  The  plan  proposed  to  bring  every  small 
child  within  three  miles  of  a  primary  school  and  every  child  be- 
tween twelve  and  sixteen  years  of  age  within  six  miles  of  a  high 
school.  To  complete  the  scheme  three  new  colleges  and  schools 
for  "instruction  in  all  the  applied  sciences  of  agriculture" 
were  to  be  established.  Ignorance  of  agriculture,  Governor  Wise 
said,  had  ruined  more  men  in  Virginia  than  "any  other  cause 
known  to  me,  except  brandy,  fox-hounds  and  horse-racing." 

Practically  all  the  suggestions  and  recommendations  made  by 
these  conventions  were  incorporated  in  a  series  of  resolutions 
which  were  to  be  sent  to  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature. 
Chief  among  the  resolutions  was  the  following:  "That  the  fea- 
ture of  charity  to  paupers  in  a  system  of  public  instruction  ought 
to  be  abolished  as  odious  to  the  people  and  degrading  to  the 
pupils."  Steps  were  also  taken  to  organize  a  teacher's  associa- 
tion, and  the  evils  resulting  from  the  premature  admission  of 
students  to  the  colleges  and  university  of  the  State  and  the 
"ignorance  and  hopeless  degradation"  of  infant  operatives  em- 
ployed in  cotton  and  woolen  factories  were  also  discussed. 
A  memorial  embodying  the  broad  educational  views  of  the  con- 
ventions was  prepared  to  be  presented  to  the  Legislature,  and 
President  William  A.  Smith  of  Randolph-Macon  College  was 
requested  to  appear  before  the  Legislature  in  behalf  of  improved 
educational  opportunity  for  the  children  of  the  State. 

In  spite  of  this  manifestation  of  interest,  however,  practically 
nothing  was  achieved  for  substantial  improvement  in  education 
during  the  closing  years  of  the  ante-bellum  period.  The  president 
and  directors  of  the  literary  fund,  consisting  of  certain  state 
officers,  continued  to  act  as  the  administrative  authority  of  public 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  215 

education  in  the  State.  The  duties  of  these  officers  extended 
only  to  the  investment  and  distribution  of  the  revenue  from  this 
source.  Beyond  these  duties  the  literary  board  had  no  author- 
ity in  the  various  details  of  educational  administration,  which 
were  left  in  large  part  to  local  county  school  commissioners  who 
were  appointed  by  the  county  courts  and  varied  in  number 
from  two  to  thirty-two.  The  commissioners  sought  out  the  poor 
children  of  the  community  and  placed  them  under  the  instruction 
of  available  teachers,  who  received  from  three  to  six  cents  a  day 
for  each  child  taught.  The  commissioners  were  required  to  visit 
the  schools  in  which  the  beneficiaries  of  the  literary  fund  were 
taught,  but  in  this  duty  they  were  usually  negligent.  The  sup- 
port of  schools  was  admittedly  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the 
State ;  the  plan  lacked  supervision  and  administration  ;  there  was 
throughout  the  period  a  strong  prejudice  against  the  plan,  with  its 
pronounced  class  distinctions,  and  there  was  much  carelessness  on 
the  part  of  those  who  were  intrusted  with  the  few  details  called 
for  by  the  school  law.  Despite  all  these  defects  and  obstacles, 
however,  the  plan  adopted  in  1818  and  the  movement  in  1829 
and  in  the  forties  for  district  free  schools  served  to  give  some 
education  to  thousands  of  children  who  would  otherwise  have 
been  entirely  neglected.  In  1860  the  State  appropriated  $80,000 
from  the  income  of  the  literary  fund,  and  nearly  fifty  thousand 
poor  children  were  reported  as  having  attended  school  an  average 
of  seventy-seven  days  in  3197  primary  schools.  The  amount  spent 
for  their  tuition  and  books  and  for  the  compensation  of  school 
officials  was  $190,000. 

Like  Virginia,  South  Carolina  also  held  back  from  establishing 
an  adequate  system  of  schools  before  the  Civil  War.  The  act 
passed  in  1811  remained  the  basis  of  practically  all  that  was 
attempted  in  that  State  before  1860,  although  supplemental  leg- 
islation was  enacted  in  1835.  The  conditions  which  there  pre- 
vented a  response  to  the  educational  revival  of  the  second  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century  were  not  unlike  those  which  retarded 
educational  progress  in  Virginia  during  the  same  period. 


216  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  operation  of  the  system  set  up  in  South  Carolina  in  1811 
began  clumsily,  but  with  some  promise  of  success.  The  reports 
to  the  Legislature  for  1812  showed  that  less  than  two  hundred 
schools  with  an  enrollment  of  about  forty-two  hundred  children 
had  been  established,  maintained,  or  aided  in  that  year  by  the 
legislative  bounty.  In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  that  year 
Governor  Middleton  regretted  that  the  free-school  plan  had 
met  with  such  partial  encouragement  and  success  and  suggested 
additional  regulations  and  improvements  for  making  the  under- 
taking more  successful.  The  following  year  a  part  of  the  Legis- 
ture  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  practical  operation  of  the  law  and 
sought  to  abolish  the  system  inaugurated  two  years  before.  But 
for  the  plea  of  representatives  from  Charleston  the  plan  would 
probably  have  been  abandoned  in  its  infancy. 

In  November,  1815,  Governor  David  R.  Williams  believed 
that  the  lack  of  gratifying  progress  of  the  system  was  due  to 
inexperience  in  its  management  and  that  with  experience  both 
the  plan  and  its  administration  would  be  improved.  He  suggested 
that  the  commissioners  be  empowered  to  place  poor  children  in 
school  without  the  consent  of  those  parents  who  were  both  un- 
willing and  unable  to  educate  them,  and  that  a  certain  number  of 
the  more  intellectually  promising  of  such  children  be  selected  "as 
fit  subjects  for  a  course  of  collegiate  training."1  In  1816  the  same 
executive  urged  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  public  endow- 
ment for  school  support  and  that  certain  lands  acquired  by  nego- 
tiations with  the  Cherokee  Indians  be  used  as  a  nucleus  of  such 
a  fund.  Governor  Andrew  Pickens,  in  his  message  to  the  Legisla- 
ture in  1817,  said  that  the  school  law  was  not  "sufficiently 
precise"  and  that  abuses  had  crept  in  which  demanded  legis- 
lative correction.  The  recommendations  of  the  various  gover- 
nors frequently  appeared,  but  with  varying  degrees  of  urgency; 
while  the  annual  legislative  committee,  appointed  to  examine  the 
school  commissioners'  reports,  too  frequently  damned  the  entire 

1Here  again  may  be  seen  the  influence  of  Jefferson's  early  school  plan  in 
Virginia. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  217 

system  by  praising  it  faintly.  Occasionally,  however,  this  com- 
mittee loudly  praised  the  plan,  as  was  the  case  in  1822,  when  it 
was  declared  that  the  system  appeared  not  only  to  have  met  "the 
approbation  of  the  citizens  throughout  the  State"  but  to  have 
"exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  its  original  found- 
ers." Governor  Thomas  Bennett  at  that  time  admired  the  liber- 
ality of  the  Legislature,  but  deplored  the  misapplication  of  its 
bounty.  He  believed  that  the  entire  system  should  be  cautiously 
examined,  its  imperfections  ascertained  and,  as  far  as  practicable,  a 
remedy  applied.  His  recommendations  to  the  Legislature  included 
the  following: 

While,  therefore,  I  earnestly  recommend  the  appointment  of  com- 
missioners to  examine  the  free-school  system  and  detail  to  you  minutely 
all  errors  existing  in  its  organization  or  administration,  permit  me  with 
deference  to  point  out  what  I  conceive  to  be  radical  imperfections. 
The  distribution  of  the  schools  over  the  State  is  erroneously  predicated 
on  the  estimate  of  taxation  and  population ;  hence  schools  are  located 
in  districts  where  the  sums  appropriated  are  more  than  sufficient  for 
the  education  of  those  who  are  the  particular  objects  of  legislative 
care ;  while  other  and  more  populous  districts  are  scarcely  sensible  of 
the  benefits  conferred.  The  location  of  the  schools  should  depend 
wholly  on  the  population  to  be  instructed,  and  should  be  established 
on  principles  adequate  to  the  object ;  if  insufficient  it  will  operate  to 
produce  hostility  to  the  system,  and  as  a  waste  of  the  sums  appro- 
priated. To  effect  this  judiciously,  I  would  suggest  the  appointment 
of  a  commissioner  of  the  school  fund,  in  whose  judgment  and  discre- 
tion implicit  confidence  may  be  reposed  whose  duty  it  should  be  to 
visit  every  school  and  report  their  situation,  annually  to  the  Legislature. 
Another  conspicuous  error  in  the  system,  is  the  admission  into  the 
schools,  free  of  any  charge,  of  children  whose  parents  are  capable  of 
procuring  their  instruction  on  other  terms.  The  bounty  of  the  State 
should  not  be  permitted  to  paralyze  individual  exertion.  The  im- 
mediate effect  of  permitting  the  children  of  the  rich  to  avail  them- 
selves of  instruction  at  the  free  schools,  is  to  deprive  the  State  of 
those  contributions  which  would  extend  their  usefulness  and  respect- 
ability; and  the  valuable  seminaries  which  private  munificence  would 
otherwise  cherish.  The  State  has,  if  not  a  qualified  property,  a  deep 
interest  in  every  child,  and  with  parental  solicitude,  should  enforce  by 


2i8  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

salutary  enactments,  the  duty  of  cultivating  their  minds,  on  every 
parent  who  would  resist  the  injunctions  of  moral  obligation,  or  the 
suggestions  of  natural  affection,  by  rearing  their  offspring  in  ignorance 
and  vice. 

During  the  next  twelve  years  the  several  governors  urged 
revisions  of  the  school  law  and  reforms  of  the  system,  which 
was  believed  to  be  "liable  to  essential  abuses."  But  the  Legisla- 
ture remained  inactive.  In  1835  Governor  George  McDuffie  com- 
mended the  Legislature  for  its  aid  to  the  South  Carolina  College, 
but  he  rebuked  that  body  for  its  constant  neglect  of  the  primary 
schools,  in  which  "a  great  part  of  the  community  obtain  all  the 
instruction  they  ever  receive  at  schools."  Continuing,  he  said: 

How  vitally  important  then  are  these  humble  institutions  in  a  com- 
munity where  the  sovereign  power  of  the  State  is  not  only  recognized 
as  residing  in  the  body  of  the  people,  but  is  habitually  exercised  by 
them  in  the  periodical  election  of  their  public  functionaries  ?  The  deep 
importance  of  popular  education  to  such  a  community  is  universally 
admitted ;  but  we  are  unfortunately  too  prone,  in  conformity  with  our 
American  habits,  to  rest  satisfied  with  proclaiming  the  measures  of 
speculative  truth,  without  taking  steps  to  have  them  exemplified  by 
measures  of  practical  wisdom.  In  no  country  is  the  necessity  of  popu- 
lar education  so  often  proclaimed,  and  in  none  are  the  schools  of 
elementary  instruction  more  deplorably  neglected.  They  are  entirely 
without  organization,  superintendence,  or  inspection  of  any  kind,  gen- 
eral or  local,  public  or  private.  To  the  reproach  of  our  republican  insti- 
tutions, it  must  be  admitted,  that  some  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe 
have  manifested  a  more  enlightened  zeal  in  the  cause  of  popular 
education,  than  has  been  exhibited  in  South  Carolina.  .  .  . 

It  is  mortifying  to  reflect,  that  not  one  in  twenty  of  those  instruc- 
tors, who  have  charge  of  our  primary  schools,  and  are  thus  invested 
with  the  sacred  office  of  forming  the  minds  of  our  children  could  stand 
the  scrutiny  through  which  every  schoolmaster  in  Prussia  must  pass, 
before  he  is  permitted  to  perform  the  very  lowest  functions  of  elemen- 
tary instruction.  A  radical  reform  in  this  department  of  popular 
instruction  is  imperiously  demanded  by  every  consideration  of  patriot- 
ism, and  although  this  salutary  work  must  principally  depend  upon 
the  exertions  of  individuals  and  local  associations,  the  Legislature  might 
give  aid  and  direction  to  the  popular  efforts,  by  uniting  the  poor 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  219 

schools  with  the  common  primary  schools  of  the  county,  and  increasing 
to  a  small  extent  the  appropriation  for  the  education  of  the  poor.  It 
seems  to  be  generally  admitted,  that  this  charitable  fund  has  been 
productive  of  very  little  public  benefit,  and  has  in  fact  been  perverted, 
in  many  instances,  into  a  provision  for  the  support  of  indigent  and 
incompetent  schoolmasters.  If  all  the  judicial  districts  were  divided 
into  school  districts  of  suitable  dimensions,  for  primary  schools,  each 
of  these  selecting  an  intelligent  school  committee  to  superintend  the 
business  of  primary  education  within  its  limits,  the  commissioners  of 
the  poor  schools  might  be  directed  to  apply  a  certain  portion  of  the 
fund  entrusted  to  their  management,  to  the  support  of  these  schools, 
in  such  a  way,  and  upon  such  conditions,  as  would  increase  the  com- 
pensation, and  at  the  same  time  insure  the  competency  of  the 
schoolmasters. 

These  suggestions  are  thrown  out,  rather  as  indicating  what  ought  to 
be  done,  and  to  draw  your  attention  to  the  subject  of  elementary 
instruction,  than  with  the  view  of  pointing  out  the  specific  plan  by 
which  it  may  be  promoted.  I  am  fully  aware,  that  any  reform  in  the 
system  of  primary  schools  to  be  extensively  beneficial,  must  originate 
with  the  people,  and  be  carried  into  execution  by  them  in  their  respec- 
tive vicinities.  There  is  no  field  of  exertion,  public  or  private,  in  which 
the  duties  of  the  parent  and  the  patriot  can  be  so  usefully  and  so 
honorably  blended,  as  in  the  improvement,  superintendence,  and 
inspection  of  the  primary  schools ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  every 
enlightened  citizen  will  regard  himself  as  a  trustee  of  these  elementary 
seminaries,  and  a  guardian  of  the  children  educated  in  them. 

One  result  of  Governor  McDuffie's  argument  in  behalf  of 
schools  was  the  passage  in  1835  °f  an  act  supplementary  to  the 
law  of  1811.  Its  chief  feature  was  a  provision  which  was  in- 
tended to  make  the  earlier  law  more  effective  by  prescribing 
penalties  for  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  school  officials.  Like 
the  original  act,  however,  it  was  full  of  defects  and  finally  proved 
ineffective.  The  same  governor  urged  the  same  subject  the  follow- 
ing year,  calling  the  schools  "the  nurseries  of  freemen,"  but  he 
was  unable  to  induce  legislative  remedy  for  a  condition  gen- 
erally considered  unwholesome.  In  1837  Governor  Pierce  M.  But- 
ler feared  that  the  free-school  system  had  not  "fully  answered 
the  benevolent  ends  contemplated,"  and  the  following  year  he 


220  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

reiterated  the  statement  and  urged  the  appointment  of  a  legis- 
lative committee  to  study  the  subject  and  to  make  a  report. 

In  compliance  with  the  governor's  request  the  Legislature  ap- 
pointed forty-six  commissioners,  representing  every  election  dis- 
trict in  the  State,  to  examine  and  revise  the  free-school  system  and 
to  make  individual  reports  of  any  amendments  to  the  school  law 
or  alterations  in  the  administration  of  the  system  which  they 
deemed  needful.  Twenty-six  of  the  commissioners  performed  the 
duty  with  commendable  zeal  and  some  ability;  and  obeying  a 
legislative  resolution,  Governor  Patrick  Noble  in  1839  placed 
their  reports  in  the  hands  of  a  special  commission  composed  of 
Professors  Stephen  Elliott  and  James  H.  Thornwell,  of  South 
Carolina  College,  who  were  requested  to  study  the  reports  and  to 
devise  and  report  to  the  Legislature  an  improved  school  plan. 
Among  other  things  the  plan  which  they  reported  called  for  a 
state  superintendent  of  schools,  provisions  for  training  teachers, 
larger  legislative  appropriation  for  free-school  purposes,  and  a 
sounder  and  more  equitable  basis  for  its  distribution.  The  report 
reflected  popular  opinion  concerning  the  system  inaugurated  in 
1811  and  enumerated  its  defects.  It  pointed  out  that  regular  re- 
turns from  the  school  officials  had  been  made  in  only  five  years 
and  that  in  one  year  thirty-one  of  the  forty-four  districts  failed 
to  report.  Moreover,  the  amount  of  money  spent  seemed  to  bear 
no  satisfactory  relation  to  the  results  obtained.  In  1812  the  sum 
of  $i  was  expended  for  every  child  instructed,  but  seven  years 
later  the  cost  was  $16  for  each  child.  Irregularity  and  inequality 
in  the  distribution  of  the  funds  appropriated  by  the  Legislature 
were  other  evils  which  rendered  the  system  ineffective.  The  av- 
erage annual  appropriation  from  the  Legislature  between  1811  and 
1839  was  $37,000,  while  the  average  annual  attendance  was  only 
about  six  thousand.  One  of  the  commissioners  declared  "  there  is 
nothing  systematic  in  the  whole  scheme  but  the  annual  appropria- 
tion for  its  support." 

Nothing  resulted  from  this  apparent  evidence  of  interest,  and 
although  the  subject  of  education  continued  to  be  urged,  no 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  221 

practical  reforms  were  made.  In  1845  ^e  governor  recommended 
a  state  superintendent  as  a  step  in  the  program  of  reform,  but  the 
legislative  committee,  to  whom  that  part  of  the  executive  message 
was  referred,  returned  the  following  answer : 

Impressed  by  the  sound  views  presented  in  the  message,  and  concur- 
ring in  these  views  almost  entirely,  the  committee  yet  feel  constrained 
by  both  the  condition  of  the  treasury,  and  the  present  circumstances 
of  the  people,  to  withhold  the  legislation  which  they  otherwise  would 
have  proposed  for  your  deliberation. 

Two  other  evidences  of  educational  interest  appeared  about 
this  time.  One  of  these  was  in  the  action  of  the  State  Agricultural 
Society  of  South  Carolina  in  1846,  and  the  other  was  the  report 
of  a  legislative  committee  the  following  year.  The  Agricultural 
Society  appointed  a  committee  to  report  on  the  "defects  of  the 
present  school  system,  and  the  changes  necessary  to  insure  the 
accomplishment  of  the  end  for  which  it  was  established,"  and 
the  matter  was  referred  to  Colonel  R.  E.  W.  Allston,  who  re- 
ported in  1847.  His  analysis  of  the  system  established  in  1811 
pointed  out  four  serious  defects  which  made  the  plan  lame  and 
imperfect :  the  lack  of  a  superintending  head,  of  adequate  support, 
of  provisions  for  training  teachers,  and  of  provisions  for  furnish- 
ing the  schools  with  books.  The  report  considered  the  plan  a 
failure  and  especially  urged  the  appointment  of  a  superintendent 
and  the  enactment  of  provisions  for  local  taxation  and  for  the 
preparation  of  teachers  by  a  normal  school  "with  a  model  school 
attached."  It  also  pointed  out  that  the  adult  white  illiterates 
of  the  State  numbered  20,000  and  that  there  were  70,000  people 
in  the  State  between  five  and  twenty  years  of  age  who  were  not 
in  school.  None  of  the  remedies  could  be  effectually  applied,  how- 
ever, "until  the  first  great  requisition  shall  have  been  satisfied 
by  the  appointment  of  a  superintendent, — an  active,  intelligent, 
discreet  and  efficient  officer." 

About  the  same  time  a  committee  of  five  was  appointed  in  the 
Legislature  to  make  a  report  concerning  education  in  the  State. 


222  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

As  chairman  of  the  committee  Henry  Sumner  prepared  and  pre- 
sented a  very  comprehensive  and  searching  statement  of  actual 
educational  conditions  which  coincided  with  the  report  of  the 
State  Agricultural  Society  and  of  all  candid  treatments  of  the 
subject.  One  part  of  the  report  stated: 

Should  not  the  State  do  more,  much  more  than  she  has  ever  done  for 
the  cause  of  education  among  the  poor,  and  among  the  people  at  large  ? 
It  was  declared,  on  the  floor  of  this  hall,  during  the  last  session  of  this 
body,  that  the  free-school  system  was  a  failure,  and  no  one  contradicted 
it :  It  seemed  to  be  conceded  by  all.  .  .  .  Reports  on  the  free-school 
system,  made  at  the  session  of  1839,  have  been  before  the  people  ever 
since  without  attracting  one  tithe  of  the  attention  which  their  impor- 
tance demands.  Let  any  dispassionate  and  candid  individual  examine 
these  reports,  and  however  much  he  may  be  disposed  to  laud  this 
State,  he  will  there  find  enough  to  make  him  blush  for  the  neglect  of 
the  all-important  cause  of  education.  He  will  then  see  that  resolution 
after  resolution  has  been  passed,  approving  the  free-school  system, 
and  recommending  that  something  be  done  to  diffuse  a  greater  amount 
of  knowledge  among  the  children  in  the  State :  and  that  committees 
were  appointed,  at  different  times,  to  report  on  this  subject;  yet 
nothing  was  done  until  the  year  1839.  Here  this  matter  rested  until 
the  last  session  and  we  have  stated  what  was  then  done.1  Shall  this  also 
terminate,  as  almost  all  the  other  appointments,  since  the  act  of  1811, 
as  splendid  nothings?  Is  there  not  something  due  to  the  people  of  the 
State  from  the  State  ?  If  the  State  has  the  right  (as  we  believe  she  un- 
questionably has)  to  endow  a  college  and  to  make  annual  appropriations 
for  its  support,  should  she  not  make  a  more  liberal  provision  than  she 
has  yet  done,  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing  the  blessings  of  education 
among  the  people  at  large?  Means  should  be  adopted  to  secure  these 
blessings  to  the  people ;  for  in  this  very  thing,  all  the  people,  learned 
and  ignorant,  rich  and  poor,  are  equally  and  deeply  interested. 

The  Sumner  report  also  advocated  and  urged  the  appointment 
of  a  superintendent  and  the  creation  of  a  central  board  of  educa- 
tion; the  formulation  of  a  well-ordered  course  of  study  for  the 

aAt  that  time  an  increase  of  the  annual  appropriation  for  schools  was 
proposed,  and  the  discussion  which  grew  out  of  the  subject  led  to  the 
appointment  of  the  Sumner  committee. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  223 

schools ;  and  a  substantial  increase  of  the  school  funds  by  legisla- 
tive appropriation  and  taxation,  and  a  remodeling  of  the  system 
and  a  distribution  of  the  funds  on  the  basis  of  white  population 
rather  than  on  the  basis  of  legislative  representation.  Sumner 
emphasized  the  inequality  of  the  method  of  distribution  followed 
in  the  State  at  that  time.  Spartanburg  District  had  five  members 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  received  $1500  of  the  school 
funds;  St.  Phillip's  and  St.  Michael's  had  seventeen  representa- 
tives and  received  $5100  of  the  funds.  But  Spartanburg  District 
had  more  voters  than  St.  Phillip's  and  St.  Michael's.  In  conclu- 
sion the  report  said: 

Many  considerations  press  upon  the  State  to  arouse  her  from  her 
lethargy,  from  her  death-like  torpor.  If  she  does  not  awake  from  this 
torpor,  she  will  "see  men  as  trees  walking,"  so  far  have  her  sister 
States  of  this  Confederacy  outstripped  her  in  this  career  of  glory.  We 
have  been  talking  and  they  have  been  acting.  Let  the  State  resolve  to 
do  the  work,  set  about  in  good  earnest,  and  the  difficulties  that  now 
throng  our  way  will  yield  to  perseverance,  and  South  Carolina  will 
at  last,  though  not  too  late,  act  worthy  of  her  ancient  dignity  and 
honor.  .  .  .  There  is  scarce  a  State  in  the  Union,  in  which  so  great 
apathy  exists  on  the  subject  of  the  education  of  the  people,  as  in  the 
State  of  South  Carolina.  The  States  immediately  adjoining  us  outstrip 
us  in  this  benevolent  and  great  work  of  diffusing  knowledge  among  the 
people.  South  Carolina  started  well,  but  she  has  overlooked  the  im- 
portance of  the  work,  and  has  lagged  behind.  Shall  she  continue  in 
this  state  of  listlessness  and  indifference  to  the  wants  of  her  children? 
She  is  a  mother ;  and  shall  she  withhold  that  which  will  satisfy  these 
wants  ?  Generous  to  a  fault,  she  will  not,  cannot,  when  she  sees  that 
it  is  to  her  interest  and  her  good  that  knowledge  should  be  diffused 
among  her  people,  and  that  the  children  in  her  borders  should  be  made 
the  recipients  of  her  bounty.  .  .  .  Does  the  patriot  desire  that  the 
institutions  of  our  government  should  be  perpetual  ?  He  ought  to  know 
that,  without  intelligence  and  virtue,  such  a  government  as  ours  cannot 
exist ;  for  these  are  the  main  pillars,  the  foundation  stones  of  the  fabric 
of  our  government.  Without  intelligence  to  know  our  rights,  and  vir- 
tue to  preserve  them  in  their  purity,  demagogism  may  deceive  the 
people  under  the  fairest  pretences  of  doing  good,  and  betray  the  trust 
reposed ;  corruption  will  then  prevail,  and  the  security  and  liberty  of 


224  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  people  will  be  lost.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  with  intelligence  and 
virtue  as  safeguards,  the  people  will  be  watchful  of  their  rights,  and 
the  demagogue,  though  perhaps  successful  for  a  time,  will  be  defeated 
in  his  attempts  to  deceive.  Morality  and  good  order  may  be  expected 
from  dissemination  of  correct  principles,  and  our  State  will  stand 
redeemed  from  the  shame  of  being  so  backward  in  the  promotion  of  a 
cause  which  promises  so  much  good ;  .  .  .  Shall  the  people  suffer  for 
lack  of  knowledge?  Let  the  State  of  South  Carolina  answer  I  Shall 
the  wants  of  the  people  be  satisfied?  Then  let  the  legislature  do 
their  duty  ! 

Such  appeals,  however,  availed  little  and  entirely  failed  in 
the  effort  to  move  the  Legislature  to  action.  When  the  Sumner 
report  was  made  Governor  Johnson  said  the  school  system  of  the 
State  was  "  the  very  worst  that  can  be  conceived,  and  calls  loudly 
for  improvement."  Governor  W.  B.  Seabrook  in  1850  held  the 
same  opinion.  He  had  issued  a  circular  to  the  school  commis- 
sioners asking  certain  questions  concerning  the  system,  and  from 
the  answers  received  he  learned  that  the  plan  was  not  successful 
except  in  densely  settled  communities,  where  the  funds  were  made 
ample  by  combining  the  appropriation  from  the  State  with  contri- 
butions from  other  sources,  and  that  the  teachers  were  poorly 
paid  and  generally  "unqualified  for  their  stations."  The  same 
governor  had  suggested  the  calling  of  an  educational  convention 
to  meet  at  Columbia  to  consider  the  subject  of  schools,  the  prepa- 
ration at  home  of  books  to  be  used  in  the  schools,  and  other  simi- 
lar subjects.  The  convention  was  held,  and  "men  distinguished 
for  talent,  character,  and  usefulness  "  took  part  in  the  proceedings 
and  recommended  practically  the  same  plan  for  schools  as  that  of 
the  Sumner  report  and  the  message  of  Governor  Seabrook.  The 
only  practical  result  or  forward  step  which  came  from  all  this 
agitation  of  the  subject,  however,  was  the  increase  of  the  annual 
legislative  appropriation  from  $37,000  to  $74,000,  and  this  was 
gained  by  a  close  vote  and  after  a  hard  legislative  fight  in  1852. 

With  the  exception  of  the  increase  of  the  state  appropriation 
for  free-school  support  no  further  legislative  action  was  taken  for 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  225 

educational  improvement  before  the  Civil  War.  But  the  leaders 
did  not  abandon  hope.  In  1855  Governor  Adams  said,  addressing 
the  Legislature: 

The  free-school  system  will  receive  at  your  hands  that  consideration 
which  its  importance  demands.  Its  results  have  fallen  so  far  short  of 
its  object  that  it  may  be  pronounced  a  failure.  Its  defects  have  been 
long  felt,  and  yet  nothing  has  been  done  except  to  double  the  sum  of 
money  to  be  wasted  under  a  bad  system.  It  requires  thorough  and 
entire  reformation.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  end  which  was  evidently 
contemplated  by  the  act  of  1811  has  been  abandoned,  and  that  what 
was  evidently  intended  to  introduce  a  general  system  of  common 
schools  has  been  perverted  to  the  exclusive  education  of  paupers.  In 
my  judgment  we  should  return  to  the  policy  of  1811,  and  seek  to 
inaugurate  a  system  which,  in  its  ultimate  development,  should  bring 
the  means  of  education  within  the  reach  of  every  family  in  the  State. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  at  this  point  that  Governor  Adams 
advocated  a  plan  for  the  different  degrees  of  education  very  simi- 
lar to  that  suggested  by  Governor  Wise  and  the  convention  in 
Richmond  in  1857.  It  is  also  of  interest  that  the  South  Carolina 
executive  criticized  the  method  of  distributing  the  legislative 
appropriation  just  as  the  Virginia  governor  in  1857  criticized  the 
management  of  the  literary  fund  in  his  State.  Governor  Adams 
said  that  if  South  Carolina  should  decline  to  adopt  the  general 
system  which  he  advocated  and  should  continue  to  restrict  its 
appropriation  to  the  indigent,  then  the  principle  on  which  the 
legislative  appropriation  was  distributed  should  be  changed.  He 
said  that  by  that  principle  education  was  denied  to  one  half  the 
population  of  the  State.  Continuing,  he  said: 

The  other  half  who  constitute  our  political  vitality,  are  unequally 
distributed  over  the  State ;  and  it  is  this  portion  of  our  population 
whom  it  is  our  duty  and  our  policy  to  educate.  The  distribution  should 
be  in  proportion  to  white  population.  If  the  State  undertakes  to 
raise  a  fund  to  educate  the  poor,  it  should  be  spent  where  it  is  most 
needed.  Under  the  present  method,  more  money  is  allowed  in  one 
section  for  the  education  of  five  or  six  children,  than  in  another  for 


226  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

ten  or  a  dozen.  In  a  matter  of  such  vital  importance  to  the  State, 
district  and  parish  lines  should  be  disregarded.  Whether  we  live  in 
the  mountains  or  on  the  seaboard,  in  the  midst  of  light  or  surrounded 
by  ignorance,  we  are  all  equally  interested  in  the  noble  work,  and 
into  whatever  benighted  part  of  the  State  the  rays  of  knowledge  can 
be  made  to  penetrate,  we  should  feel  as  citizens  of  the  same  State, 
enjoying  one  renown,  and  linked  to  one  destiny,  that  the  partial  bless- 
ing is  the  general  good. 

Governor  Adams  advocated  the  election  of  a  state  superin- 
tendent and  provisions  for  other  features  of  an  improved  school 
system.  "Make  at  least  this  effort,"  he  begged,  "and  you  will 
at  least  feel  conscious  of  having  done  your  duty,  and  the  public 
anxiety  on  the  subject  will  be  quieted."  This  urging  had  no  effect 
on  the  Legislature,  however,  whose  educational  committee  deemed 
it  "inexpedient  to  propose  any  further  legislation  on  the  subject 
at  present."  The  movement  for  reform  continued  to  be  agitated, 
however,  until  the  Civil  War,  but  reform  never  came.  In  1860  the 
report  of  the  legislative  committee  on  education  was  similar  to 
its  reports  thirty  years  before.  It  pointed  out  that  the  calcula- 
tions of  the  free-school  commissioners  had  been  verified  and  found 
substantially  correct,  though  some  were  deficient  in  form  and 
others  were  received  late.  It  was  also  noted  that  in  some  instances 
the  amount  expended  for  tuition  had  not  reached  the  appropria- 
tion and  that  in  others  it  had  exceeded  the  appropriation.  The 
report  noted  that  although  the  method  of  distributing  the  appro- 
priation, on  the  basis  of  representation  in  the  popular  branch 
of  the  Legislature,  "  may  not  in  some  respects  conform  to  princi- 
ple and  exact  equity,  your  committee  are  of  opinion  that  this 
rule  of  distribution  should  be  adhered  to,  as  it  approximates 
equality,  probably  as  nearly  as  possible,  and  has  been  established 
and  acted  upon  for  a  series  of  years."1 

Thus  the  plan  provided  for  in  1811  continued  practically  un- 
changed throughout  the  ante-bellum  period.  The  lack  of  any 
central  authority  and  of  systematic  and  uniform  management 
and  the  lack  of  provisions  for  local  enterprise  or  community 

1  Reports  and  Resolutions  of  1860,  pp.  40,  41. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  227 

cooperation  were  among  its  chief  defects.  Moreover,  the  system 
was  defective  in  principle;  and  the  causes  which  principally 
obstructed  improvement,  in  spite  of  frequent  solicitude  and  exer- 
tions, were  a  mistaken  spirit  of  economy  and  a  division  of  opinion 
as  to  what  should  be  the  real  object  of  the  plan.  Concerning  the 
curriculum,  methods  of  teaching,  textbooks,  qualifications  of  the 
teachers,  and  the  physical  equipment  of  the  schools,  there  is  but 
scanty  information  in  the  annual  reports  of  the  commissioners 
to  the  legislative  committee.  Finally,  the  defects  of  the  plan 
were  numerous,  but  it  doubtless  rescued  many  children  from 
hopeless  ignorance.  Near  the  close  of  the  ante-bellum  period  the 
following  estimate  was  made  of  the  system: 

Considered  in  the  light  of  an  adequate  provision  for  the  elementary 
education  of  the  people,  the  free-school  system  is  chargeable  certainly 
with  gross  and  serious  defects ;  considered  as  a  scheme  for  the  benefit 
of  the  poor  and  needy,  it  has  just  as  certainly  rescued  thousands  from 
the  doom  of  hopeless  ignorance,  and  been  the  first  step  in  the  ascent 
of  others  to  honors,  usefulness,  and  fame.  It  has  let  down  a  rope  into 
the  sinks  of  poverty  by  which  a  few  gifted  minds  have  been  drawn  up 
into  the  clear  light  and  bracing  air  of  learning,  refinement  and  elegance. 
The  ransom  of  these  minds  has  been  worth  more  than  the  whole 
amount  appropriated  by  the  commonwealth.  Besides  this,  the  free- 
school  fund  has  been  a  blessing  to  the  community  at  large  in  many 
neighborhoods,  which  were  too  thinly  settled  to  support  a  teacher  by 
their  own  contributions.  The  bounty  of  the  State  has  eked  out  their 
deficiency,  and  kept  up  a  good  school  where  one  could  not  otherwise 
have  been  maintained.  In  these  respects  the  appropriation  has  not  been 
in  vain.  It  is  the  language  of  exaggeration,  and  not  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness, to  condemn  it  wholesale,  as  an  idle  waste  of  the  public  money.  It 
is  something  gained  that  there  should  be  a  standing  confession  of  the 
obligation  of  the  State  to  provide  for  popular  instruction;  something 
that  thousands,  to  whom  the  book  of  knowledge  would  have  been  for- 
ever sealed,  have  been  actually  taught  the  rudiments  of  learning ;  and 
something  better  still,  that  here  and  there,  a  few  generous  minds  had 
had  a  fire  kindled  within  them,  which  never  ceased  to  burn,  until  they 
themselves  became  lights  in  the  world.1 

iThe  Free  School  System  of  South  Carolina.  Columbia,  1856.  The 
author  is  not  indicated. 


228  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

In  Charleston,  however,  the  plan  provided  in  1811  was  more 
successful  and  made  a  slight  improvement  before  1850.  There 
the  free-school  commissioners  had  worked  with  more  than  usual 
zeal  and  interest  in  behalf  of  schools.  Legislative  authority  was 
given  to  commissioners  to  raise  by  taxation  funds  for  erecting 
houses  and  for  launching  a  general  school  system.  The  sum  of 
$10,000  was  thus  raised,  and  the  system  was  inaugurated  in 
July,  1856.  From  that  time  until  the  Civil  War  Charleston  had  a 
creditable  public-school  system,  adequately  housed  and  properly 
superintended  and  taught,  and  with  modest  provisions  for  train- 
ing teachers.  Many  of  the  wealthy  citizens  of  the  community 
patronized  the  schools,  and  in  this  way  prejudice  against  the 
public-school  idea  was  more  or  less  weakened. 

It  was  noted  in  Chapter  V  that  the  act  of  1823  in  Tennessee 
marked  the  beginning  of  an  earnest  effort  to  provide  a  system  of 
public  schools  for  that  State,  but  that  the  plan  provided  by  that 
legislation  was  defective  in  that  it  was  obviously  designed  pri- 
marily for  the  education  of  poor  children.  However,  this  law 
served  to  stimulate  a  better  educational  sentiment,  expressed  in  the 
law  of  1827,  which  consolidated  all  school  funds  into  one  fund  for 
the  encouragement  and  support  of  common  schools,  and  in  the  law 
of  1830,  which  made  provisions  for  a  more  advanced  school  plan 
for  the  State. 

The  plan  formulated  by  the  law  of  1830  seems  to  have  been 
the  germ  of  Tennessee's  ante-bellum  school  system,  and  while  it 
lacked  central  authority  and  machinery  for  enforcing-  its  pro- 
visions, it  undertook  to  get  away  from  the  pauper  idea  and  to 
"induce  universal  attendance."  Moreover,  it  undertook  to  pro- 
vide for  free  textbooks  and  looked  also  in  the  direction  of  com- 
pulsory attendance.  The  law  was  intended  to  encourage  and  to 
support  schools,  however,  rather  than  to  establish  and  maintain 
them,  and  there  seems  to  have  been  no  complete  or  effective  organ- 
ization under  this  act.  Up  to  that  time  the  educational  legislation 
of  the  State  was  largely  financial  in  character,  and  the  school 
funds  were  greatly  decentralized  and  involved  in  the  state  bank, 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  229 

through  which  a  large  part  of  that  means  of  school  support  was 
lost.  Between  1830  and  1836  there  was  but  little  educational 
legislation  enacted  in  the  State.  During  that  time,  however, 
Tennessee  had  succeeded  in  adopting  a  constitution  which,  for 
the  first  time,  gave  attention  to  public  education  and  a  permanent 
public-school  fund.  . 

The  friends  of  education  began  in  earnest  soon  after  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  in  1835,  and  m  tnat  year  Governor  Can- 
non recommended  to  the  Legislature  "the  proper  adaptation  of 
measures  to  the  existing  state  of  society  and  habits  of  the  people." 
He  believed  too  much  had  been  undertaken  or  more  than  could  be 
achieved  by  the  funds  available,  and  he  advocated  a  simple 
system  which  would  place  the  means  of  education  within  reach 
"of  that  part  of  this  rising  generation  who  are  entirely  destitute 
and  cannot  obtain  it  from  any  other  source."  As  a  result  of  the 
agitation  for  increased  educational  opportunity  the  Legislature 
enacted  another  school  law  in  1836,  which  provided  for  a  state 
board  of  education,  a  state  superintendent  of  schools,  and  for 
centralizing  all  school  funds.  The  plan  thus  provided  was  other- 
wise similar  in  detail  to  that  formulated  in  1830.  Robert  H. 
McEwen  was  elected  superintendent  of  schools  for  a  term  of  two 
years  by  a  joint  vote  of  the  Legislature,  at  an  annual  salary  of 
$1500.  The  law  gave  him  no  authority  to  enforce  the  school 
laws  or  to  stimulate  and  encourage  educational  advancement,  but 
he  was  to  serve  the  system  as  financial  agent  or  treasurer  of  the 
school  fund.  McEwen's  first  report  in  October,  1837,  dealt  in  the 
main  with  the  condition  of  this  fund,  which  he  regarded  as  in- 
adequate for  the  needs  of  the  State.  The  report  recognized  the 
actual  educational  condition  of  the  State,  and  the  superintendent 
proposed  to  encourage  the  schools  which  then  existed  and  grad- 
ually to  expand  them  into  a  general  system.  Up  to  that  time 
the  actual  organization  of  the  system  had  not  begun,  the  meager 
supply  of  teachers  had  to  come  through  the  academies  and  col- 
leges, and  individual  effort  and  aid  were  necessary  to  support  a 
working  plan. 


230  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

In  1838  the  common-school  funds  and  the  academy  funds 
were  invested  in  the  state  bank,  which  was  created  at  that  time, 
and  from  this  investment  the  sum  of  $100,000  was  to  be  appro- 
priated annually  for  free-school  support  under  "the  pledge  of 
public  faith  and  credit  of  the  State."  At  the  same  time  the  duties 
of  the  state  superintendent  were  denned  and  provisions  made  for 
a  more  adequate  school  system.  The  superintendent  was  to  man- 
age and  apportion  the  school  funds  on  the  basis  of  scholastic 
population.  No  apportionments  were  to  be  made  to  districts 
which  neglected  to  report  the  required  statistics  nor  to  any 
which  did  not  maintain  a  three  months'  school  term  each  year. 
When  the  public  funds  were  insufficient  to  maintain  a  school  for 
three  months  the  local  school  officers  were  empowered  to  levy  rate 
bills  on  "parents,  guardians,  and  others  who  may  have  derived 
benefit  from  the  school  by  sending  children  thereto."  However, 
these  officers  could  exempt  from  the  rate  bills  such  poor  persons 
"within  the  district  as  they  shall  think  proper." 

In  his  report  for  1838-1839  Superintendent  McEwen  estimated 
the  scholastic  population  at  185,000  and  noted  that  many  dis- 
tricts had  elected  school  trustees  in  accordance  with  the  law  and 
that  many  schools  had  been  established  "under  highly  flattering 
auspices."  He  had  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  system  and 
urged  the  attention  of  the  local  officers  to  the  proper  location 
and  construction  of  schoolhouses,  recommending  that  the  school 
apportionment  be  used  for  a  while  for  those  purposes.  He  also 
recommended  that  the  local  trustees  be  empowered  to  examine  the 
qualifications  of  teachers,  that  local  taxation  be  substituted  for  the 
rate  bills  to  supplement  funds  necessary  for  a  three  months'  term, 
that  provision  be  made  for  educational  agents  to  create  interest 
in  schools  by  addresses  and  lectures  on  the  subject,  and  he  asked 
authority  to  issue  an  educational  journal.1 

McEwen  was  elected  for  a  second  term,  beginning  February, 
1838.  But  there  was  considerable  discontent  with  his  adminis- 
tration of  the  school  funds  between  1836  and  1838,  and  hints  that 

1  Weeks,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Tennessee,  chap.  iv. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  231 

he  had  been  guilty  of  fraud  led  to  a  thorough  legislative  investi- 
gation. In  November,  1839,  a  joint  committee  was  appointed 
consisting  of  five  members  from  the  House  and  three  from  the 
Senate,  and  the  result  of  the  investigation  was  a  majority  report 
that  McEwen  had  defrauded  the  school  fund  of  about  Si2i,ooo.1 
When  McE wen's  term  expired  in  February,  1840,  legal  action 
was  instituted  against  him  and  his  securities,  and,  after  a  litiga- 
tion which  continued  for  ten  years  and  which  wore  the  color  of 
politics,  final  settlement  was  made  with  the  defendants  for  the 
sum  of  $io,797.86.2  Meantime  the  school  fund  was  taken  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  state  superintendent  and  placed  under  the 
control  of  the  state  bank. 

Robert  P.  Currin  succeeded  McEwen  and  served  with  great 
acceptability  until  November,  1841,  when  he  resigned.  On  the 
same  day  that  Currin's  resignation  was  accepted  Scott  Perry 
was  elected,  after  the  legislative  committee  on  education  had 
reported  unfavorably  a  proposal  to  abolish  the  office.  Perry 
served  as  state  superintendent  until  January,  1844,  when,  under 
a  wave  of  economy  and  retrenchment,  the  office  was  abolished. 
The  superintendent  had  been  little  more  than  a  financial  clerk, 
and  the  Legislature  seemed  unwilling  to  enlarge  his  authority  or 
to  expand  his  duties,  which  were  now  transferred  to  the  state 
treasurer.  Thus  the  wave  of  educational  enthusiasm  which  began 
in  the  early  thirties  and  continued  for  more  than  a  decade  was 
spent ;  the  defalcation  of  McEwen  gave  public  education  a  decided 
setback,  its  advocates  became  discouraged,  and  from  1844  to 
1854  the  poorly  organized  school  system  was  little  more  than  a 
name.  The  distributable  share  of  the  public  funds  to  each  dis- 
trict was  small  and  was  often  applied  to  private  schools,  to  which 
the  people  were  greatly  attached  and  which  they  viewed  with 

1  Andrew  Johnson  was  chairman  of  the  committee  from  the  House.   A 
minority  report  was  made  by  Felix  Parker,  a  member  of  the  committee 
from  the  House,   which   charged   that  the  investigation   was  based   on   a 
"private  malice  and  political  prejudice  spurred  into  activity  ...  by  hungry 
expectants  and  party  hangers  on." 

2  Journal  of  the  House,  1843-1844,  pp.  484-485. 


232  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

confidence.  To  such  schools  the  public  funds  were  distributed  on 
the  basis  of  enrollment  and  credited  to  the  tuition  of  those  who 
would  accept  the  aid.  In  this  way  the  public-school  fund  "came 
to  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  charity  fund." 

In  spite  of  the  setback,  however,  educational  interest  appeared 
now  and  then,  and  improvement  was  occasionally  urgently  advo- 
cated. In  April,  1847,  an  educational  convention  was  held  in 
Knoxville,  with  representatives  from  the  counties  of  Greene, 
Cocke,  Hawkins,  Claiborne,  Jefferson,  Blount,  Knox,  Roane, 
Marion,  and  Anderson.  A  memorial  to  the  Legislature  was 
prepared  which  recommended  property  taxation  for  school  sup- 
port, state  supervision,  county  supervision,  examination  and  certifi- 
cation of  teachers,  the  publication  of  a  monthly  educational 
journal,  and  other  means  of  improving  school  conditions.  In  No- 
vember of  that  year  Governor  Neil  S.  Brown,  who  was  probably 
influenced  by  the  memorial,  indorsed  the  recommendation  of  the 
convention,  especially  urging  taxation  for  education.  This  is  said 
to  be  the  "first  deliberate  recommendation  of  taxation"  for  public 
schools  ever  made  in  Tennessee.  Brown  advocated  a  county  levy 
for  schools  equal  to  the  sum  received  from  the  State,  a  principle  of 
school  support  which  at  that  time  was  proving  very  successful  in 
North  Carolina.  Many  of  the  governor's  recommendations  were 
incorporated  in  a  bill,  but  the  proposed  legislation  failed.  Three 
years  later  authority  was  given  incorporated  towns  to  levy  prop- 
erty, privilege,  and  capitation  taxes  for  educational  purposes  on 
the  direction  of  a  majority  of  the  legal  voters.  This  was  the  first 
action  in  the  State  for  school  taxes,  and,  while  its  immediate  value 
was  small,  it  marked  a  step  in  the  right  direction. 

In  1853  Governor  Andrew  Johnson  said  in  his  first  message 
that  the  school  system  fell  far  short  of  the  "imperative  commands 
of  the  constitution"  and  that  the  Legislature  and  the  people 
should  "lay  hold  of  this  important  subject  with  a  strong  and  un- 
faltering hand."  As  a  result  an  act  was  passed  the  following  year 
which  provided  for  a  general  capitation  tax  of  twenty-five  cents 
and  two  and  one-half  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars'  valuation  on 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  233 

the  taxable  property  of  the  State,  to  be  levied  and  collected,  as 
other  state  taxes,  for  school  purposes.  The  funds  thus  raised  and 
the  $100,000  which  had  been  appropriated  annually  since  1839 
from  the  income  of  the  literary  fund  were  to  be  distributed  to  the 
various  counties  on  the  basis  of  their  scholastic  population.  More- 
over, authority  was  given  for  a  permissive  county  tax  for  schools, 
equal  to  the  amount  derivable  from  the  state  taxes,  if  legally 
ordered  by  the  county  courts  or  the  people.  By  this  legislation 
provisions  were  made  for  doubling  the  school  funds.  Provisions 
were  later  made  for  the  examination  and  certification  of  teachers. 
In  1855-1856  a  bill  to  establish  a  normal  school  to  train  teachers 
failed  on  the  third  reading  on  account  of  sectional  jealousies  in 
the  State. 

With  the  act  of  1854  the  popular  wave  in  favor  of  schools, 
which  had  so  noticeably  declined  in  the  forties,  reached  its  cul- 
mination during  the  ante-bellum  period.  From  that  time  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  much  more  was  achieved  for  public- 
school  education  than  had  been  achieved  before  that  time.  The 
provisions  of  the  law  were  more  or  less  advanced  for  the  time  and 
the  region,  but  the  actual  operation  of  the  system  which  the  law 
supported  was  disappointing;  it  was  "an  effort  rather  than  an 
accomplishment,  a  promise  rather  than  a  fulfillment."  The  system 
lacked  central  supervisory  authority,  uniformity  in  the  require- 
ments for  teachers,  in  the  course  of  study,  and  in  textbooks,  and 
bore  no  relation  to  the  State  except  that  of  receiving  a  certain 
financial  aid.  Moreover,  the  funds  thus  expended  were,  before 
1854  at  least,  doubtless  used  to  supplement  and  extend  the  terms 
of  schools  which  were  organized  and  conducted  largely  as  private 
enterprises.  In  some  of  the  larger  towns,  however,  the  correct  prin- 
ciple of  public  educational  support  by  public  taxation  was  slowly 
being  accepted  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Among  them  were 
Nashville,  Memphis,  and  Clarksville,  where  creditable  and  more  or 
less  successful  attempts  were  made  for  public  schools  before  1860. 

Although  North  Carolina  was  the  first  Southern  State  to  make 
constitutional  provisions  for  schools,  it  was  very  slow  to  obey  the 


234  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

mandate  of  that  instrument.  The  state  university  was  chartered 
in  1789  and  organized  six  years  later,  and  a  literary  fund  was  es- 
tablished in  1825  ;  but  with  these  exceptions  there  was  no  further 
public  educational  legislation  until  1839,  when  the  first  school  law 
of  the  State  was  enacted.  The  State  was  therefore  late  in  adopting 
a  school  plan,  but  its  educational  progress  between  1840  and  1860 
was  so  steady  that  it  "was  able  to  place  on  the  ground  beyond 
dispute  the  best  system  of  public  instruction  in  the  fourteen  South- 
ern States  east  of  the  Mississippi  previous  to  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War."1 

This  record  of  achievement,  however,  was  not  easily  made. 
When  the  school  system  was  first  introduced  the  people  were 
"tenacious  of  old  habits,  conservative  to  the  point  of  stubborn- 
ness," and  the  experiment  was  novel  for  that  region.  The  pos- 
session of  a  large  permanent  fund  for  school  purposes  seemed  for 
a  time  to  serve  as  a  strong  and  practical  argument  against  taxation 
for  public  education,  there  were  few  means  for  training  the 
teachers  necessary  for  the  success  of  the  system,  and  many  of  the 
"  old  field  "  teachers  looked  jealously  on  the  new  system  and  sought 
to  obstruct  its  progress.  However,  the  school  law  was  revised 
and  improved  from  time  to  time,  and  the  system  gradually  won 
friends  and  finally  gained  a  large  place  in  the  public  esteem. 
In  1841  considerable  legislative  improvement  was  made  for  the 
administration  of  the  schools.  Counties  which  had  failed  to 
adopt  the  school  system  in  1839  were  by  this  act  given  opportu- 
nity to  vote  on  the  matter  again,  with  the  same  privileges  and 
rights  allowed  under  the  original  act,  and  those  which  had  voted 
against  the  plan  were  to  have  invested  for  them  by  the  literary 
board  whatever  sums  they  would  have  been  entitled  to  receive. 

Until  1853,  when  a  state  superintendent  was  appointed,  the 
chief  defect  of  the  system  was  a  lack  of  central  supervision  and 
control.  Until  that  time  the  literary  board  was  the  executive 
head  of  the  schools,  and  the  system  was  left  largely  to  county 

1  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1895-1896, 
Vol.  I,  p.  282. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  235 

officials  who  were  not  qualified  by  training  or  experience  to  guide 
the  work  wisely.  Many  other  evils  grew  out  of  this  fundamental 
defect.  Returns  of  school  statistics  from  the  counties  were  irregu- 
lar and  incomplete,  there  was  no  provision  for  special  reports  from 
the  literary  board,  and  official  information  on  the  subject  of 
schools  was  lacking.  Different  counties  developed  different  habits 
in  the  control  of  the  school  work,  and  there  was  naturally  but 
little  tendency  toward  a  state  system.  The  law  was  permissive, 
and  the  local  courts  were  often  negligent  in  their  duty  of  levying 
the  school  taxes,  largely  because  the  law  made  it  a  discretionary 
rather  than  an  imperative  duty  to  do  so.  Moreover,  the  element 
of  charity  was  read  into  the  public-school  plan  and  noticeably 
hindered  its  development.  Progress  toward  reform  began  to  be 
made  early,  however,  and  criticisms  of  the  organization,  account- 
ability, and  management  of  the  system  led  to  measures  in  the 
late  forties  which  looked  to  the  appointment  of  a  state  superin- 
tendent. Finally,  the  office  of  superintendent  was  created  in 
1852,  and  Calvin  H.  Wiley  was  appointed  to  the  position,  which 
he  filled  with  signal  success  until  it  was  abolished  in  1866. 

It  was  under  Wiley's  leadership  that  the  educational  revival  in 
North  Carolina  was  promoted,  and  the  history  of  schools  in  that 
State  from  1853  to  the  Civil  War  is  in  large  measure  a  part  of 
his  own  biography.  He  was  already  widely  known  and  popular 
in  the  State  when  he  came  to  the  office,  and  his  resourcefulness, 
versatility,  and  indefatigable  toil  in  that  position  gave  a  remark- 
able impetus  to  educational  interest.  During  his  thirteen  years 
of  active  official  service  he  labored  consistently  for  a  complete 
reorganization  and  improvement  of  the  educational  agencies  of 
the  State.  His  first  care  was  to  arouse  interest  in  the  cause  of 
schools,  and  this  he  did  by  tours  through  the  State  and  by  edu- 
cational campaigns  which  extended  from  the  eastern  to  the  ex- 
treme western  counties.  These  trips  were  often  made  by  private 
conveyance  and  at  Wiley's  personal  expense;  during  his  first 
year  in  office  such  campaigns  called  for  fully  half  of  his  salary. 
Moreover,  he  did  not  always  receive  the  encouragement  which 


236  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

his  sacrifices  and  the  interest  for  which  he  worked  deserved.  But 
his  courageous  heart  was  never  daunted,  and  a  new  educational 
life  in  the  State  began  gradually  to  show  itself ;  hope  was  revived, 
new  friends  were  made  for  the  schools,  and  old  friends  "  resolved 
to  work  with  redoubled  efforts." 

One  of  the  chief  obstacles  which  hindered  public  educational 
progress  in  North  Carolina  in  the  early  fifties  was  the  scarcity  of 
teachers.  From  the  outset,  however,  Wiley  undertook  to  increase 
the  number  and  to  elevate  the  standard  of  teaching  qualifications. 
He  also  sought  to  induce  women  to  become  teachers  because 
"they  are  more  patient,  more  easily  win  the  affections  of  the 
young,  and  are  more  likely  to  mold  to  virtuous  and  refined  senti- 
ments, the  plastic  nature  of  childhood."  He  also  urged  the  for- 
mation of  library  associations  for  the  State  as  a  further  means  of 
improving  the  professional  qualifications  of  the  teachers,  and  his 
continued  effort  to  encourage  improvement  in  this  part  of  the 
work  finally  led  to  the  formation  of  the  state  teachers'  association, 
which  had  a  rather  remarkable  ante-bellum  career. 

The  most  interesting  and  valuable  means  of  training  teachers 
for  the  public  schools  of  the  State  during  the  fifties  was  provided 
through  the  efforts  of  Braxton  Craven,  president  of  the  Normal 
College,  in  Randolph  County,  from  which  institution  Trinity 
College,  now  located  at  Durham,  later  developed.  In  1850  Cra- 
ven published  in  pamphlet  form  a  comprehensive  plan  for  train- 
ing teachers  which  was  widely  distributed  and  which  created 
in  the  State  a  strong  opinion  in  favor  of  legislative  aid  for  this 
work.  In  the  same  year  legislative  authority  was  given  his 
institution  to  issue  certificates  to  its  graduates  as  "sufficient 
evidence  of  ability  to  teach  in  any  of  the  common  schools  of  this 
State,  without  reexamination  of  the  county  committees."  In 
1852  the  governor  and  the  state  superintendent  were  made  ex- 
officio  president  and  secretary  of  the  trustees,  and  from  1853  until 
1859 — when  the  name  of  the  school  was  changed  to  Trinity  Col- 
lege and  all  state  relations  severed — Normal  College  continued 
its  work  of  preparing  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  State. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  237 

The  teacher-training  courses,  which  were  of  outstanding  impor- 
tance in  the  institution,  required  three  years  for  completion,  and 
in  the  promotion  of  this  work  Craven  and  Wiley  cooperated  fully 
for  public  education  in  the  State. 

The  establishment  of  an  educational  magazine  and  the  forma- 
tion of  a  state  teachers'  association  were  other  evidences  of  im- 
provement in  education  in  the  State.  For  several  years  Wiley 
had  advocated  the  creation  of  these  auxiliary  agencies,  and  both 
were  promoted  largely  by  his  influence  as  superintendent  of 
schools,  as  president  of  the  teachers'  association,  and  as  editor 
of  the  teachers'  journal.  The  journal  first  appeared  in  Septem- 
ber, 1856,  and  the  teachers'  association  was  formed  the  following 
month.  Both  undertakings  had  highly  creditable  careers  and 
rendered  valuable  educational  service  to  the  State  before  1860. 

Wiley  found  through  his  annual  reports,  which  began  in  1854 
and  continued  through  1866,  another  effective  means  of  encour- 
aging reform  and  improvement.  These  reports  were  intended  to 
give  information  concerning  the  condition  of  the  schools  and  the 
progress  they  were  making,  to  discuss  the  weaknesses  of  the  sys- 
tem and  to  make  suggestions  for  further  improvement,  and  finally 
they  were  used  as  a  means  of  creating  and  directing  public 
opinion  on  the  subject  of  universal  and  free  education.  And 
through  his  textbooks,  especially  "The  North  Carolina  Reader," 
which  went  through  several  editions  and  became  a  standard  for 
use  in  the  schools,  Wiley  rendered  still  another  important  educa- 
tional service.1 

Considering  the  obstacles  which  confronted  him  Wiley's  educa- 
tional achievements  will  challenge  a  most  favorable  comparison 
with  the  work  of  any  educational  leader  of  the  ante-bellum  period. 
Before  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  his  leadership  was  widely 
recognized  and  his  services  were  greatly  in  demand  in  other  States. 
Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  sought  to  copy  the  edu- 
cational example  of  North  Carolina,  and  Wiley  was  invited  to 


book  appeared  before  Wiley  was  elected  superintendent  of  schools. 
When  he  was  elected  to  that  position  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  work. 


238  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

appear  before  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  that  State  in  improving  its  school  system.  Just  before  the 
war  the  school  system  of  North  Carolina  was  attracting  the 
favorable  attention  of  the  "States  south,  west,  and  north  of  us." 
In  1860  the  scholastic  population  of  the  State  numbered  221,000, 
and  150,000  children  were  enrolled  in  more  than  3000  schools. 
More  than  2700  teachers  were  licensed  in  that  year,  and  more 
than  Si 00,000  was  collected  in  local  school  taxes.  The  average 
monthly  salary  of  teachers  was  $28,  and  the  average  school  term 
was  four  months.  Teachers'  salaries  were  larger  and  the  school 
term  longer  in  the  State  just  before  the  war  than  at  any  time 
prior  to  1900. 

Although  Georgia  began  its  career  as  a  member  of  the  Union 
with  promising  educational  prospects,  its  ante-bellum  educational 
career  was  more  or  less  disappointing.  Its  efforts  for  schools 
during  the  first  half  century  of  statehood  were  noted  briefly  in 
Chapter  V,  where  it  was  pointed  out  that  significant  steps  were 
taken  before  1800  and  again  in  1817  and  1822,  when  important 
educational  legislation  was  enacted.  It  was  the  act  of  1822,  how- 
ever, which  became  the  basis  of  public  educational  effort  in  the 
State  throughout  most  of  the  ante-bellum  period.  Although 
this  effort  was  more  or  less  feeble,  it  marked  a  step  in  the  direc- 
tion of  state  support  of  public  education,  and  in  it  the  State 
appeared  partially  committed  to  that  principle. 

In  1825  Governor  G.  M.  Troup  said,  when  he  addressed  the 
Legislature,  that  institutions  for  the  instruction  of  youth  were 
multiplying  in  "every  quarter  of  the  State,  founded  either  by 
public  or  private  contribution,"  and  that  the  county  academies 
were  increasing  in  numbers  and  respectability  and  were  generally 
sustained  by  public  favor.  The  poor-school  fund  was  eagerly 
sought  by  the  various  counties,  he  said,  "but  whether  beneficially 
applied  in  all,  is  doubtful."  He  recommended  that  such  general 
permanent  regulations  be  adopted  for  that  part  of  the  system 
as  would  accommodate  the  schools  to  local  conditions.  Other 
executives  recommended  from  time  to  time  that  more  legislative 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  239 

attention  be  paid  to  public  education,  but  practically  no 
changes  were  made  in  the  provisions  for  schools  between  1822 
and  the  late  thirties. 

In  1836  one  third  of  Georgia's  share  of  the  surplus  revenue  was 
set  apart  for  school  purposes,  and  a  joint  legislative  committee 
of  five  was  appointed  to  digest  and  present  an  adequate  school 
plan  for  the  State.  The  report  of  this  committee  recommended  the 
adoption  of  a  plan  similar  to  that  in  operation  in  some  of  the 
Middle  and  Eastern  States  and  urged  the  elimination  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  charity,  which  had  up  to  that  time  so  seriously  weakened 
Georgia's  public  educational  provisions.  About  the  same  time 
Governor  Schley  said,  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature,  that  the 
school  system  of  the  State  was  "radically  defective."  The  dis- 
tinctions made  between  those  who  accepted  the  benefits  of  the 
academy  fund  and  those  who  were  aided  by  the  poor-school 
fund  were  "invidious  and  insulting";  and  he  regarded  it  highly 
improper,  while  attempting  "  to  aid  the  cause  of  education,  to  say 
to  a  portion  of  the  people,  'you  are  poor.'"  The  governor  noted 
that  thousands  of  honest,  patriotic,  and  valuable  citizens  were  re- 
fusing the  bounty  and  despised  the  hand  that  offered  it,  be- 
cause it  was  accompanied  with  insult.  He  urged  the  consolidation 
of  the  academy  fund  and  the  poor-school  fund  into  a  general 
educational  fund  to  be  used  for  promoting  primary  education. 

As  a  result  of  the  governor's  recommendations  and  the  report 
of  the  committee,  which  was  somewhat  modified  by  the  Legisla- 
ture, an  act  was  passed  in  1837  providing  for  a  more  or  less 
advanced  system.  The  academy  fund  and  the  poor-school  fund 
were  combined  and,  with  the  interest  on  one  third  of  the  surplus 
revenue,  were  to  constitute  a  general  fund  for  school  purposes. 
The  following  year  the  law  was  somewhat  modified,  and  permis- 
sion was  given  the  county  courts,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
grand  jury,  to  levy  an  extra  county  tax,  not  to  exceed  50 
per  cent  of  the  general  tax,  to  be  added  to  the  general  school 
fund.  The  acts  of  1837  and  1838  were  without  any  general  effect, 
however,  and  in  1840  they  were  repealed,  and  the  funds  set  apart 


240  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

by  them  for  school  purposes  were  designated  as  a  poor-school 
fund.  Three  years  later  the  school  law  was  further  amended,  in 
an  act  to  provide  for  the  education  of  the  poor,  and  the  county 
courts  were  given  permission,  with  the  approval  of  the  grand 
jury,  to  levy  and  collect  an  extra  tax  which,  "with  such  funds 
as  may  be  received  from  other  sources,"  would  be  sufficient  to 
educate  the  poor  children  of  the  counties.  "Local  officers  were 
to  furnish  the  courts  with  the  names  of  all  such  children  between 
the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen  "as  may  need  total  or  partial  as- 
sistance in  obtaining  their  education";  and  commissioners  were 
to  be  appointed  to  superintend,  without  compensation,  the  proper 
application  of  the  funds  and  the  education  of  the  poor  and  to 
formulate  such  regulations  as  would  promote  the  objects  of  law. 
Under  these  provisions  the  public-school  work  of  the  State  was 
carried  on  during  the  remainder  of  the  ante-bellum  period. 

The  duties  of  the  local  officers  provided  for  under  the  act  of 
1843  were  frequently  not  observed.  Returns  of  poor  children 
were  often  entirely  neglected,  and  the  returns  which  were  made 
were  generally  imperfect  and  incomplete.  Not  more  than  three 
fourths  of  the  poor  children  were  reported,  and  of  that  number 
only  about  half  were  sent  to  school ;  and  those  who  were  en- 
rolled attended  school  less  than  four  months  a  year.  Fifteen 
counties  made  no  returns  in  1850,  and  although  the  law  provided 
that  counties  neglecting  that  duty  could  participate  in  the  distri- 
bution of  the  income  from  the  school  fund  on  the  basis  of  the 
last  return,  eight  counties  in  that  year  received  no  apportionment 
because  they  had  never  made  returns  of  school  statistics.  In  one 
year  only  fifty-three  of  the  ninety-three  counties  of  the  State 
applied  for  their  apportionment  of  the  fund. 

Lack  of  central  supervision,  however,  was  perhaps  not  the 
chief  weakness  of  the  plan.  Like  the  plans  experimented  with  in 
several  other  States  before  1860  the  plan  in  Georgia  was  defec- 
tive in  principle.  The  poor-school  system  worked  a  gross  injus- 
tice to  the  poorer  counties,  which  usually  had  the  largest  number 
of  poor  children  and  the  least  ability  to  provide  for  their  education. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  241 

For  example,  the  counties  of  Jasper  and  Newton,  which  had 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  poor  children,  in  one  year  paid 
into  the  state  treasury  taxes  amounting  to  $8910;  while  the 
counties  of  Gilmer  and  Union  paid  only  $1594  in  taxes  and 
reported  more  than  twenty-eight  hundred  children  who  were 
entitled  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the  school  fund. 

Efforts  were  made  in  1845  and  again  in  1858  to  inaugurate 
an  adequate  public-school  system  in  Georgia,  but  the  attempts 
failed.  An  enthusiastic  educational  meeting,  attended  by  dele- 
gates from  sixty  counties,  was  held  in  Marietta  in  the  late  fifties  to 
consider  the  subject  of  schools,  and  an  interesting  and  significant 
address  was  prepared  for  the  people  of  the  State.  The  conven- 
tion recommended  a  central  board  of  education,  a  state  super- 
intendent, adequate  school  support,  the  preparation  of  teachers, 
and  other  features  of  a  sound  school  plan.  Near  the  close  of  the 
ante-bellum  period  a  meeting  of  the  friends  of  education  was 
held  in  Atlanta  during  the  exhibition  of  the  "  Southern  Central 
Agricultural  Society,"  and  a  memorial  was  prepared  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Legislature  in  behalf  of  better  educational  oppor- 
tunity. The  memorial  asked  for  schools  "to  which  the  children 
of  the  poorest  citizens  shall  be  sent,  without  submitting  parent 
or  child  to  the  jeer  of  pauperism.  .  .  .  School  houses  which 
shall  awaken  a  feeling  of  pride  in  every  neighborhood,  and  cause 
the  richest  to  feel  that  no  private  teaching  can  afford  equal  advan- 
tages to  the  common-school.  .  .  .  We  must  have  jree  public 
schools  in  every  school  district  in  Georgia."  The  memorial  urged 
taxation  and  other  progressive  educational  features.  In  1858  Gov- 
ernor Joseph  E.  Brown  urged  the  Legislature  to  establish  "a 
practical  common  school  system"  and  recommended  that  a  large 
sum  of  money  be  appropriated  for  that  purpose.  His  message 
was  vigorous  and  influenced  the  Legislature  to  set  apart  the  sum  of 
$100,000  annually  of  the  earnings  of  the  Western  and  Atlantic 
Railroad,  which  was  the  property  of  the  State,  to  be  devoted  to 
promoting  common-school  education.  This  legislation  indicated 
a  large  interest  in  education  and  contemplated  the  creation  of  a 


242  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

complete  school  system,  and  a  promising  school  plan  was  in  the 
making  when  it  was  interrupted  by  the  war. 

Georgia  was  therefore  unable  to  establish  such  an  ante-bellum 
school  system  as  its  early  educational  effort  promised.  At  best 
the  plan  most  generally  adopted  before  1860  was  a  decentralized, 
permissive  county  system.  In  each  county  there  was  a  board  of 
education  whose  chief  members  were  the  treasurer  of  the  school 
fund  and  a  commissioner  appointed  by  the  county  court;  this 
board  issued  a  permit  or  license  "to  almost  any  person,  authorizing 
said  person  to  teach  when,  where,  and  how  he  or  she  may  please." 
As  a  rule  the  teacher  provided  his  or  her  own  schoolhouse  and 
equipment  and  received  "  seven  cents  a  day  for  each  pupil  in 
actual  attendance."  The  teacher  filed  his  account  with  the 
county  officer  at  stated  times  and  received  his  compensation  from 
the  quota  which  came  to  the  county  from  the  annual  distribution 
of  the  school  fund.  In  general  the  public  conceded  that  the 
State  might  "with  measurable  propriety,"  make  provision  for 
the  education  of  those  children  whose  parents  were  too  poor  to 
pay  tuition  fees  in  private  schools,  but  the  principle  of  public 
education  by  state  support  and  control  had  not  yet  been  fully 
accepted  in  Georgia.  Largely  for  that  reason  the  so-called  "  poor 
schools"  were  set  up  in  that  State,  and  if  they  had  not  con- 
tained the  element  of  charity  the  ante-bellum  practice  would 
doubtless  have  been  productive  of  greater  usefulness.  In  1859 
the  children  entitled  to  participate  in  the  poor-school  fund  num- 
bered about  130,000,  and  about  72,000  were  taught  by  its  aid. 

Louisiana  did  not  come  into  the  Union  until  1812,  but  the 
territorial  Legislature  had  shown  some  interest  in  education, 
and  a  very  ambitious  educational  plan  had  been  outlined  and  set 
up  in  1805,  when  provision  was  made  for  the  University  of 
Orleans.  The  following  year  a  public-school  law  was  enacted, 
though  it  had  only  a  short  life ;  but  during  the  next  quarter  of  a 
century  the  more  influential  citizens  showed  an  interest  in  efforts 
to  establish  schools.  In  1833  the  secretary  of  State  was  made 
ex-officio  state  superintendent  of  public  schools,  and  interest  in 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  243 

education  during  this  so-called  beneficiary  period  became  wide- 
spread and  more  or  less  effective.  From  time  to  time  the  governor 
of  the  State  recommended  the  abolition  of  the  subsidized  paro- 
chial system  of  academies  and  private  schools  (see  Chapter  IV) 
and  the  substitution  of  a  thoroughgoing  public-school  system.  In 
1841  New  Orleans  was  given  authority  to  establish  a  complete 
system  of  public  schools,  with  a  superintendent  and  support  by 
public  taxation,  and  in  a  few  years  the  public  schools  of  that 
city  compared  favorably  with  the  best  city  systems  in  the  country. 
Its  educational  work  continued  to  grow  and,  before  the  war, 
served  as  a  good  example  to  other  towns  and  cities  in  the  South.1 

Louisiana  had  no  constitutional  provisions  for  education,  how- 
ever, until  1845.  In  that  year  a  commission  was  appointed  to 
improve  and  extend  the  school  system,  and  the  first  step  was 
taken  when  advanced  provisions  for  education  were  incorporated 
in  the  new  constitution  adopted  at  that  time.  The  instrument 
provided  for  a  state  superintendent,  for  a  permanent  public- 
school  fund,  and  for  legislative  establishment  of  public  free 
schools  and  "  for  their  support  by  taxation  on  property,  or  other- 
wise." This  was  one  of  the  most  advanced  constitutional  pro- 
visions for  public  education  to  be  found  in  any  State  at  that  time. 
In  1846  Governor  Isaac  Johnson,  in  his  message  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, recommended  the  establishment  of  free  public  schools  and 
institutions  of  higher  learning.  A  committee  on  public  education 
was  accordingly  appointed,  and  in  1847  Louisiana  passed  its  first 
free-school  law,  which  was  likewise  advanced  for  the  time.  An 
annual  tax  of  one  mill  on  the  dollar  on  all  taxable  property  in  the 
State  was  to  be  levied  and  collected,  and  later  a  capitation  tax  of 
one  dollar  on  each  and  every  free  white  male  inhabitant  above 
twenty-one  years  of  age  was  also  levied. 

The  funds  thus  raised  were  to  be  supplemented  by  the  interest 
on  the  permanent  public-school  fund,  and  such  revenues  were  to 
be  apportioned  by  the  state  superintendent  to  the  various  parishes 

1  Henry  Barnard  assisted  in  preparing  the  plan  for,  and  was  offered  the 
superintendency  of,  the  New  Orleans  schools. 


244  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

in  proportion  to  the  scholastic  population  of  each.  Local  school 
directors  or  trustees  were  provided  for,  and  these  officers  were  to 
appropriate  to  the  support  of  free  schools  the  funds  coming  to 
their  districts,  together  with  such  funds  as  were  derived  from  the 
rents  or  sales  of  their  school  lands.  These  officers  had  full  author- 
ity over  the  local  schools  and  were  required  to  make  annual  re- 
ports to  the  parish  superintendent  concerning  certain  scholastic 
statistics— the  amount  of  school  funds  apportioned  to  the  dis- 
trict, the  number  and  term  of  each  school  taught,  the  enrollment, 
the  course  of  study,  and  the  salaries  paid  teachers.  The  parish 
superintendents,  who  were  elected  by  the  people  and  commissioned 
by  the  governor,  were  required  to  make  similar  annual  reports  to 
the  state  superintendent.  They  acted  as  treasurers  of  the  parish 
funds,  stood  between  the  local  school  trustees  and  the  state 
superintendents,  and  were  required  to  visit  the  schools  and  to 
examine  and  license  the  teachers,  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  local 
boards  of  trustees,  and  to  appoint  such  boards  when  the  people 
failed  to  elect  them.  The  salary  of  these  officers  was  fixed  at 
$300  annually.  The  local  trustees  were  given  authority,  with  the 
consent  of  a  majority  of  the  voters  in  the  district,  obtained  after 
sufficient  public  notice,  to  levy  a  local  property  tax  for  building 
and  furnishing  schoolhouses.  The  state  superintendent  was  re- 
quired to  visit  the  various  parishes  each  year  to  inspect  the  schools 
for  the  purpose  of  awakening  interest  in  education,  and  to  make 
annual  reports  to  the  Legislature  concerning  the  public  education 
in  the  State. 

Alexander  Dimitry  was  selected  as  the  first  head  of  the  system 
in  1847  f°r  a  term  of  two  years  and  at  an  annual  salary  of  $3000. 
This  was  the  largest  salary  paid  to  a  state  superintendent  of 
schools  at  that  time.  Dimitry  was  widely  known  as  a  scholar  and 
teacher  and  was  eminently  qualified  for  the  important  and 
difficult  duties  of  this  office.  Up  to  this  time  such  public  schools 
as  had  existed  in  Louisiana  had  been  under  the  direction  of  the 
secretary  of  State.  But  only  a  small  success  had  been  achieved. 
As  early  as  1842  the  police  jurors  (who  were  county  officers  of 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  245 

the  State)  were  authorized  to  levy  a  tax  for  schools  not  to  exceed 
one  half  of  the  annual  state  tax;  and  although  large  sums  of 
money  had  been  expended  for  so-called  public  education  the  plan 
in  use  before  1847  was  so  defective  that  the  ex-officio  state 
superintendent  declared  it  should  be  consigned  to  "an  unhonored 
grave." 

The  task  before  the  superintendent  was,  therefore,  very  diffi- 
cult. However,  his  first  report,  which  was  made  in  1848,  showed 
that  the  parishes  had  been  laid  off  into  districts  and  that  the 
system  had  begun  with  some  promise  of  success.  There  was  in- 
difference, and  hostility  occasionally  revealed  itself,  especially 
against  the  law  for  levying  local  school  taxes.  Yet  a  large 
part  of  the  scholastic  population  was  enrolled  in  school,  and 
in  1849  the  sum  of  $328,000  was  appropriated  for  free-school 
support.  In  1850  there  were  692  school  districts,  with  618 
schools,  in  which  22,000  children  were  receiving  instruction.  Two 
years  later  the  number  of  public  schools  in  the  rural  section  of 
the  State  reached  647,  and  more  than  half  of  the  scholastic  popu- 
lation was  in  attendance.  In  some  communities  high  schools 
were  reported. 

Certain  legislative  changes  were  made  in  the  fifties  which  were 
not  without  their  influence  on  the  school  system.  The  method 
of  selecting  the  state  superintendent  was  changed  from  appoint- 
ment by  the  governor  to  popular  election,  and  his  salary  was  re- 
duced to  $1500  a  year.  The  office  of  parish  superintendent  was 
abolished  and  a  nonsalaried  board  of  district  directors  substituted. 
These  changes  seriously  crippled  the  system  outside  of  New 
Orleans  and  added  ground  for  complaint  against  the  school  plan. 
One  complaint  heard  in  the  late  fifties  was  against  the  local 
directors,  who  often  appeared  to  have  little  interest  in  their  work. 
Complaints  also  "came  from  many  of  the  parishes  that  the 
teachers  appointed  were  not  only  incompetent,  but  often  drunk- 
ards and  unprincipled  adventurers."1  Wherever  these  conditions 

1Ficklen,  The  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Public-School  System  in 
Louisiana. 


246  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

were  found  many  parents  demanded  and  "  obtained  their  chil- 
dren's quota  of  the  public-school  funds,  which  they  used  in  part 
payment  of  the  salaries  of  private  tutors  and  governesses."  This 
method  of  expenditure  of  public-school  money  was  very  un- 
wholesome and  "worked  great  injustice  to  the  poorer  classes." 
From  a  statement  made  in  the  report  of  the  state  superintendent 
in  1859  there  appeared  a  more  or  less  representative  description 
of  conditions  in  a  large  part  of  the  State  at  that  time : 

Under  the  present  law  nearly  every  planter  has  a  school  at  his 
house  and  draws  the  pro  rata  share  out  of  the  public  treasury.  The 
poor  children  have  not  the  benefit  of  these  schools,  and  in  this  parish, 
which  pays  about  $14,000  in  school  tax,  there  is  consequently  not 
enough  in  the  treasury  to  pay  the  expense  of  a  single  school  at  the 
parish  seat,  where  it  ought  to  be. 

Considering  the  obstacles  confronting  the  plan  and  the  condi- 
tions just  described,  the  system  set  up  under  the  law  of  1847 
achieved  a  marked  degree  of  success.  Private  schools  were  nu- 
merous and  excellent,  and  where  "public  schools  were  established 
teachers  of  inferior  skill  were  employed."  Local  officers  were  often 
careless,  and  seeing  that  the  wealthy  and  influential  planters  were 
satisfied,  the  Legislature  confined  its  action  to  the  appropriation  of 
"  ample  funds,  which  often  never  reached  the  schools "  for  which 
they  were  intended.  This  source  of  public-school  support  was 
generally  very  liberal;  from  1847  to  J86i  the  sum  of  $3,840,000 
was  appropriated  for  that  purpose,  and  the  Confederate  Legisla- 
ture of  1862  appropriated  $485,000  for  public  schools.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  fully  half  of  the  scholastic  population  of  the 
State  outside  of  New  Orleans  was  in  public  schools.  In  that  city 
public  graded  schools  had  been  in  operation  for  several  years  and 
had  attained  a  very  marked  degree  of  success. 

There  were  only  a  few  schools  in  Mississippi  before  1795,  but 
by  1800  several  private  schools  seem  to  have  been  set  up,  and  in 
1801  a  "public  female  school"  was  opened,  although  this  was  very 
likely  supported  by  tuition  fees.  In  1802  Jefferson  College  was 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  247 

chartered  by  the  territorial  Legislature  and  opened  nine  years 
later.  In  1817  the  territory  which  included  the  present  State  of 
Mississippi  was  admitted  to  the  Union.  The  constitution  adopted 
in  that  year  contained  the  educational  provision  of  the  Northwest 
Ordinance  of  1789,  and  this  provision  was  continued  in  the  con- 
stitution of  1832  and  of  1865  :  "Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge 
being  necessary  to  good  government,  the  preservation  of  liberty, 
and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools,  and  the  means  of  educa- 
tion, shall  forever  be  encouraged  in  this  State." 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  in  1818,  provision  was 
made  to  take  care  of  the  sixteenth-section  lands,  which  had  already 
been  set  apart  for  purposes  of  education,  and  the  county  courts 
were  authorized  to  provide  one  or  more  schools  in  each  county  "  as 
they  should  deem  right  and  useful."  In  1821  a  fuller  educational 
act  was  passed  creating  a  literary  fund  and  providing  for  county 
school  commissioners,  who  were  to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the 
fund  for  the  education  of  poor  children,  who,  with  the  consent  of 
their  parents  or  guardians,  were  to  be  selected  by  the  commission- 
ers to  be  taught  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  These  county 
school  officers  were  to  visit  and  examine  the  schools,  to  examine 
into  the  qualifications  of  the  teachers,  and  to  collect  and  report 
certain  educational  statistics  in  their  various  counties.  Three 
years  later  further  legislation  was  enacted  for  the  management  of 
schools,  making  the  township  the  educational  unit  of  the  State.  In 
1833  another  school  law  was  passed  which  dealt  in  the  main  with 
the  literary  fund  and  the  annual  distribution  of  its  income,  which 
was  to  be  used  for  the  education  of  poor  children.  Up  to  that  time 
the  so-called  public  schools  of  the  State  had  been  established  and 
aided  by  funds  arising  from  the  leases  or  sales  of  the  sixteenth- 
section  lands,  which  had  been  donated  by  Congress,  and  by  the 
small  income  from  the  literary  fund  established  in  1821. 

In  the  early  forties  the  subject  of  public  schools  was  greatly  agi- 
tated, the  question  being  stirred  by  a  discussion  of  the  sixteenth- 
section  lands  and  by  the  tide  of  immigration  and  the  resulting 
rapid  increase  in  illiteracy.  This  agitation  was  enlarged  by  the 


248  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

work  of  Governor  A.  G.  Brown,  who  had  broad  educational  sym- 
pathies and  who,  before  his  election  as  the  chief  executive  of  the 
State,  had  urged  the  establishment  of  public  free  schools  for  all 
the  children.  His  inaugural  address  in  1844  contained  an  earnest 
and  eloquent  plea  for  public  education,  and  although  his  appeal 
failed  to  secure  immediate  legislative  action,  it  created  a  healthy 
educational  interest.  During  the  following  years  this  interest  re- 
flected itself  in  the  newspaper  of  the  State.  Moreover,  local 
organizations  of  the  Whig  and  of  the  Democratic  party  resolved 
in  favor  of  public  schools,  which  became  a  striking  feature  of 
the  campaign.  In  1846  Governor  Brown  made  another  appeal  to 
the  Legislature,  and  that  body  responded  with  an  act  of  March  4 
of  that  year.  This  was  the  first  law  enacted  in  Mississippi 
looking  to  the  establishment  of  a  general  system  of  public  schools. 
The  law  provided  for  local  school  commissioners,  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  boards  of  county  police  and  to  have  charge  of 
schools  in  their  local  districts.  They  were  to  license  and  make 
contracts  with  teachers  and  to  have  general  control  of  the  local 
schools.  The  compensation  of  the  teachers  was  to  come  from 
the  county  funds,  which  consisted  of  the  sixteenth-section  funds, 
escheats,  fines,  forfeitures,  and  certain  license  taxes.  To  the  funds 
arising  from  these  sources  were  to  be  added  also  certain  special 
school  taxes  which  the  commissioners  were  empowered  to  levy 
with  the  written  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  heads  of  families 
in  each  township.  The  commissioners  were  required  to  collect 
and  report  statistics  concerning  the  schools  to  the  secretary  of 
State,  who  was  made  ex-officio  superintendent  of  public  education. 
Like  the  ante-bellum  school  laws  of  many  States  this  act  was 
weakened  by  its  extremely  permissive  features  and  its  lack  of 
provision  for  strong  central  supervision.  Any  township  could 
be  exempted  from  the  provisions  of  the  act  if  a  majority  of  the 
heads  of  families  should  file  a  written  protest  with  the  county 
board  of  police  before  a  certain  date  each  year.  Moreover,  the 
power  to  raise  local  school  taxes  was  so  permissive  as  to  work  its 
own  defeat.  The  law  failed  also  to  repeal  previous  educational 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  249 

legislation,  and  this  neglect  gave  rise  to  puzzling  and  complicated 
constructions.  In  spite  of  all  these  defects,  however,  the  law 
was  not  entirely  without  force  and  value.  It  was  a  step  in  the 
right  direction  and  served  as  a  not  altogether  unworthy  beginning, 
remaining,  with  a  few  slight  revisions,  the  basis  of  public  educa- 
tional effort  in  the  State  until  the  war. 

,  But  the  plan  created  by  this  act  failed  to  meet  the  full  expecta- 
tions of  its  friends,  and  in  1848  Governor  Brown  urged  its  re- 
vision or  repeal  and  the  substitution  of  a  more  adequate  plan. 
But  the  Legislature  did  not  act  on  the  suggestion.  Instead,  four 
separate  acts  were  later  passed,  and  each  of  them  provided  for 
a  different  school  plan.  One  law  applied  to  six  counties,  another 
to  five,  the  third  to  seven,  the  fourth  to  seventeen,  and  the  law  of 
1846  was  in  force  in  the  remaining  counties.  During  the  remain- 
der of  the  ante-bellum  period  the  evil  of  local  and  privileged 
educational  legislation  continued.  The  following  excerpt  from  the 
report  of  the  ex-officio  superintendent  for  1851  serves  as  a  good 
illustration  of  this  condition,  which  continued  to  prevail  until  the 
war: 

At  the  session  of  the  legislature  in  1850  special  acts  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  schools  were  passed  for  a  large  number  of  counties.  The 
special  legislation  upon  this  subject  has  virtually  repealed  the  law 
providing  for  a  general  system  of  common  schools  in  the  State.  On 
examining  the  various  laws  upon  this  subject,  repeals  and  reenact- 
ments,  special  and  supplemental  laws,  the  subject  is  thrown  into  such 
a  state  of  confusion  that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  what  the  law  is.  In 
December,  1849,  my  predecessor  made  an  elaborate  report  to  the 
governor  in  which  he  states  that  in  his  previous  report  he  was  able  to 
report  from  one-fourth  of  the  counties  in  the  State,  and  regrets  that 
in  his  present  report  he  could  present  the  condition  of  schools  in  only 
eleven  counties.  And  I  now  have  to  report  that  during  the  last  two  years 
returns  from  three  counties  only  have  been  made  to  this  office.  This 
is  owing  to  the  special  laws  passed  for  most  of  the  counties  which  are 
not  required  to  report  the  condition  of  the  schools  to  the  secretary  of 
State.  It  is  not  so  much  my  purpose  to  make  a  report  upon  schools  as 
to  show  why  I  have  not  done  it,  and  also  to  show  due  respect  to  those 
counties  who  have  made  their  reports. 


250  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Some  slight  ante-bellum  educational  growth  in  Mississippi  was 
noticeable,  however,  even  with  the  ruinous  policy  of  special 
legislation  in  the  way.  In  1840,  for  example,  there  were  382 
common  schools  with  more  than  8000  pupils  reported  in  the 
State.  Ten  years  later  the  common  schools  numbered  762  with 
826  teachers  and  nearly  19,000  pupils.  The  total  expenditures 
for  common  schools  that  year  were  about  $254,000,  and  more 
than  $66,000  came  from  public  funds  and  taxes.  In  1860  there 
were  1116  common  schools  in  the  State  with  1215  teachers 
and  an  enrollment  of  about  31,000.  The  sum  of  $385,000  was 
expended  for  common  schools,  but  three  fifths  of  this  expenditure 
came  from  tuition  fees. 

Alabama  came  into  the  Union  in  1819  with  a  rather  creditable 
constitutional  provision  for  schools.  Legislation  enacted  in  that 
year  looked  to  the  promotion  of  public  schools  to  be  supported 
by  the  proceeds  of  the  sixteenth-section  lands,  but  this  law 
seems  to  have  been  without  any  very  great  effect.  In  1823  further 
legislation  was  enacted  which  provided  for  local  trustees,  who 
were  to  build  schoolhouses,  to  examine  and  employ  teachers,  and 
to  report  those  pupils  who  were  to  be  admitted  to  the  schools  free 
of  charge.  Poor  children  were  to  be  received  at  the  expense  of 
the  district  or  county,  while  those  who  were  able  to  do  so  paid  a 
tuition  fee — a  practice  which  prevailed  throughout  the  so-called 
experimental  period.  By  act  of  1839  the  state  bank,  which  held 
the  permanent  public-school  fund  of  the  State,  was  directed  to 
pay  the  sum  of  $150,000  annually  for  school  support,  and  this 
amount  was  increased  to  $200,000  in  1840.  By  the  law  of  1840  no 
township  could  receive  more  than  $400,  and  this  assistance  seems 
to  have  been  furnished  only  after  certain  sums  (usually  about 
one  third  of  the  amount  given  by  the  State)  had  been  subscribed 
and  collected  locally.  Moreover,  it  appears  that  the  law  assumed 
that  the  schools  should  be  actually  taught  in  advance  of  state  aid, 
and  it  is  evident  that  the  purpose  of  the  law  was  to  stimulate 
local  initiative  and  community  enterprise.  However,  no  citizen 
was  entitled  "to  an  amount  exceeding  the  amount"  which  he 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  251 

actually  subscribed,  but  poor  children  were  to  be  educated  free 
of  charge.  This  State,  therefore,  also  looked  primarily  to  the 
education  of  the  poor. 

Direct  aid  from  the  profits  of  the  state  bank,  however,  did  not 
long  continue.  The  proceeds  of  the  land  sales  were  carelessly 
invested,  and  a  large  part  of  the  school  fund  was  lost  (see  Chap- 
ter V).  Efforts  were  made,  however,  throughout  the  forties  and 
in  the  early  fifties  to  bring  about  improvement.  Legislative 
committees  reported  eloquently  on  the  necessity  of  public  schools, 
but  regretted  that  heavy  public  burdens  prevented  any  state  aid 
to  them.  State  taxation  was  urged,  however,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  state  superintendent  was  recommended ;  and  a  bill  was 
presented  at  the  Legislature  of  1851-1852  authorizing  the  ap- 
pointment of  such  an  officer,  but  the  bill  failed.  At  that  time 
there  was  a  scholastic  population  of  about  100,000  in  the  State, 
but  there  were  only  about  1152  public  schools,  with  1195  teach- 
ers and  nearly  29,000  children.  Hundreds  of  communities  were 
entirely  without  schools,  although  in  "rare  cases  enterprising 
teachers  succeeded  in  arousing  a  strong  local  interest  and  in 
building  up  what  might  be  termed  country  academies,  in  which 
the  classics  and  sciences  were  taught,  and  aspiring  young  men 
received  their  preparation  for  college." 

A  marked  change  was  taking  place  in  the  early  fifties,  how- 
ever, and  there  appeared  a  rather  wholesome  sentiment  for  public 
schools.  In  the  Legislature  of  1853-1854  Robert  M.  Patton  (who 
later  became  governor  of  the  State),  Alexander  B.  Meek  (who 
was  a  prominent  "lawyer  and  judge,  editor  and  legislator,  poet 
and  soldier"),  and  Jabez  L.  M.  Curry  (who  later  became  the  gen- 
eral agent  of  the  Peabody  Fund)  worked  for  educational  improve- 
ment and  were  instrumental  in  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1854, 
which  became  the  basis  of  a  creditable  school  system  through  the 
remainder  of  the  ante-bellum  period.  The  law  created  an  educa- 
tional fund  and  provided  for  a  state  superintendent,  county  school 
commissioners,  and  local  township  trustees,  the  examination  and 
certification  of  teachers,  and  authority  for  the  counties  to  levy 


252  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

a  property  tax  for  school  support.  There  was  no  direct  state 
taxation  for  schools,  although  the  law  provided  for  an  annual 
appropriation  of  $100,000  from  the  state  treasury  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  this  sum  necessarily  came  from  taxes.  Dr.  Stephen 
B.  Weeks  says1  that  the  law  showed  "a  grasp  of  educational 
problems,  a  comprehension  of  school  difficulties  and  school 
needs  and  a  modernity  of  methods  and  aims  that  are  truly 
astonishing." 

William  F.  Perry,  a  man  of  long  and  successful  teaching  ex- 
perience, was  selected  as  the  first  state  superintendent  and  began 
immediately  to  set  in  motion  the  splendid  school  plan.  Local 
officers  were  slow  to  learn  the  importance  of  making  returns  of 
school  statistics,  and  Perry  seemed  discouraged.  In  his  first  re- 
port he  said  that  three  fourths  of  the  children  of  the  State  were 
either  entirely  without  instruction  "or  have  been  crowded  into 
miserable  apologies  for  schoolhouses,  without  comfortable  seats, 
without  desks  or  blackboards,  often  without  the  necessary  text- 
books, and  still  oftener  without  competent  teachers."  But  he 
believed  that  the  majority  of  the  people  looked  upon  the  school 
system  with  much  favor  and  would  soon  lend  their  aid  to  pro- 
mote its  efficiency.  A  large  number  of  schools  had  been  estab- 
lished, and  while  the  school  system  had  not  been  so  successful  as 
its  advocates  had  hoped,  in  some  parts  of  the  State  it  had  worked 
well  and  was  productive  of  good.  The  superintendent  outlined 
a  wide  course  of  study,  recommended  grading  and  classifying  the 
pupils,  and  suggested  a  list  of  textbooks.  He  also  recommended 
a  list  of  books  for  the  teachers. 

The  law  was  revised  in  1856  and  the  school  system  greatly 
improved.  The  scholastic  population  in  that  year  was  about 
171,000,  and  nearly  90,000  children  were  enrolled  in  more  than 
2  200  schools  which  had  an  average  term  of  about  six  months. 
In  that  year  the  sum  of  $474,000  was  expended  for  public-school 
support.  Perry,  who  served  as  superintendent  until  September, 
1858,  constantly  directed  attention  to  improvements  in  the 
1  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Alabama,  p.  63. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  253 

construction  and  furnishing  of  schoolhouses,  in  the  qualifications 
of  teachers,  and  the  need  for  enlightening  public  opinion.  Public 
sentiment  gradually  developed  in  favor  of  schools,  but  there  were 
numerous  ill-wishers  who  welcomed  every  opportunity  to  attack 
the  state  system.  There  was  also  a  lack  of  sufficient  central  au- 
thority to  compel  the  local  officers  to  conform  to  all  the  require- 
ments of  the  law,  and  the  result  was  carelessness  and  indifference, 
which  were  universal  obstacles  to  ante-bellum  educational 
effort.  However,  the  Alabama  Educational  Association  was 
formed  in  1856,  to  have  several  successful  and  influential  meet- 
ings before  the  war,  and  numerous  local  educational  associations 
were  also  organized.  The  Alabama  Educational  Journal,  estab- 
lished by  Superintendent  Perry  in  January,  1857,  also  rendered 
a  valuable  service  to  the  school  interests  of  the  State  during  its 
short  career.  These  and  other  agencies  greatly  aided  in  the  devel- 
opment of  a  sound  educational  sentiment. 

Gabriel  B.  Duval  succeeded  Perry  as  superintendent  Septem- 
ber i,  1858,  and  served  until  1864.  Under  his  administration 
considerable  educational  progress  was  made.  Growth  was  slow 
but  steady  and  consistent.  Counties  rapidly  became  well  organ- 
ized, schools  continued  to  be  increased,  uand  it  would  appear 
that  the  public  funds  were  expended  in  the  way  least  likely  to 
emphasize  the  pauper  school  idea."  Public  funds  were  used, 
however,  to  "supplement  private  endeavor,"  and  this  plan  was  so 
successful  that  in  1858  the  average  school  term  was  more  than  six 
months  and  in  Pickens  County  the  schools  were  reported  open  all 
the  year.  Duval  made  his  last  report  in  1859,  and  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  went  to  the  front  as  captain  of  a  volunteer  company ; 
in  his  absence  his  educational  duties  were  performed  by  his 
chief  clerk,  W.  C.  Allen.  In  March,  1864,  Duval  seems  to  have  re- 
signed as  superintendent,  and  Allen  served  as  head  of  the  state 
school  system  until  January,  1865,  when  he  was  succeeded  by 
John  B.  Taylor. 

Throughout  that  stormy  period  the  schools  continued  to  oper- 
ate with  surprising  consistency.  In  1861  the  total  expenditures 


254  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  school  purposes  were  about  $284,000,  and  in  1865  about 
$113,000.  The  schools  were  kept  open  until  the  appointment  of  a 
provisional  governor  in  July,  1865,  although  "amidst  embarrass- 
ments incident  to  a  state  of  fierce  warfare,"  said  Superintendent 
John  B.  Ryan  in  April,  1866.  The  records  and  papers  of  the 
superintendent's  office  "were  carted  about  the  country  in  boxes" 
(to  keep  them  from  the  hands  of  spoilers)  during  most  of  the 
time  after  1863.  The  people  seemed  determined  to  keep  the 
schools  open  as  long  as  possible.  On  this  point  the  following 
letter  of  March  n,  1865,  from  State  Superintendent  Taylor  to 
W.  H.  Huston,  superintendent  of  Dallas  County,  has  interest : 

I  am  much  gratified  to  learn  from  your  letter  of  the  8th  inst.  that 
the  absorbing  and  engrossing  interest  of  the  times  and  the  perilous 
condition  of  the  country  have  not  retarded  the  educational  interests  of 
the  populous  and  wealthy  country  which  you  represent,  and  that 
parents  evince  an  "enthusiastic  interest  in  the  education  of  their 
children."  Of  a  truth  "Carpe  diem"  should  be  the  motto  of  our 
people  at  this  time,  for  "we  know  not  what  the  day  may  bring  forth," 
nor  how  soon  present  advantages  may  pass  away  before  the  invasion 
of  a  ruthless  foe,  or  how  even  their  sons  may  be  called  away  from  the 
pursuits  of  learning  to  the  more  immediate  and  pressing  necessity  of 
defense. 

I  trust  that  the  wisdom  of  Congress  may  adopt  some  plan  whereby 
disabled  soldiers  and  officers,  unfit  for  duty  in  the  field,  may  be  retired, 
and  thus  competent  instructors  from  among  the  educated  take  their 
places  as  instructors  of  the  rising  generation.  An  accomplished  officer, 
formerly  a  teacher,  and  now  himself  maimed  and  unable  to  resume  his 
command,  informed  me  that  there  are  many  such  now  spending  their 
time  in  idleness  or  assigned  to  duties  for  which  they  are  incompetent. 
He  also  stated  that  he  had  mentioned  the  matter  to  members  of  Con- 
gress and  that  he  hoped  they  would  take  such  action  as  would  lead  to 
beneficial  results.  Let  us  then  wait  in  hope. 

I  am  pleased  with  your  plan  for  procuring  schoolbooks  and  trust 
you  will  meet  with  eminent  success.  It  should  certainly  be  adopted  in 
every  county  when  practicable,  and  has  been  acted  upon  to  some 
extent  by  the  booksellers  of  this  city. 

Professor  B.  T.  Smith,  of  Central  Institute,  is  now  engaged  upon  an 
abridged  arithmetic  for  the  use  of  public  schools  and  has  completed 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  255 

the  work  as  far  as  division.  When  that  is  completed  I  shall  request 
him  to  publish,  if  a  publisher  can  be  obtained,  leaving  the  remainder 
for  a  future  edition.  This  part  will  answer  for  primary  classes  and 
will  supply  a  present  want.  If  encouraged  in  this  undertaking,  the 
professor  will  enter  upon  abridgments  of  other  schoolbooks. 

You  will  oblige  me  by  giving  me  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of 
holding  your  county  convention.  It  is  my  desire  to  visit  as  many  as 
the  limited  time  at  my  command  will  permit. 

Arkansas  was  organized  as  a  territory  in  1819  and  was  ad- 
mitted as  a  State  seventeen  years  later.  Under  territorial  legis- 
lation enacted  in  the  early  thirties  provision  was  made  for  taking 
care  of  the  school  lands  and  the  funds  arising  from  rent  or  sales 
of  these  lands,  and  a  slight  beginning  was  made  for  public  schools. 
During  a  large  part  of  the  ante-bellum  period  the  academy  was 
used  for  immediate  educational  needs,  although  during  that 
period  the  principles  of  public  education  were  gradually  being 
accepted.  In  1829  schools  were  reported  in  "almost  every 
township  of  the  few  counties  that  constituted  the  territory." 
Some  of  these  were  private  schools  "taught  by  old-field  school- 
masters, well-educated  men,"  while  others  were  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  county  courts  and  were  supported  by  tuition  fees  and 
the  funds  arising  from  the  school  lands. 

In  1836,  when  Arkansas  came  into  the  Union,  its  consti- 
tution said : 

Knowledge  and  learning  generally  diffused  through  a  community 
being  essential  to  the  preservation  of  a  free  government,  and  diffusing 
the  opportunities  and  advantages  of  education  through  the  various 
parts  of  the  State  being  highly  conducive  to  this  end,  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  General  Assembly  to  provide  by  law  for  the  improve- 
ment of  such  lands  as  are,  or  hereafter  may  be,  granted  by  the  United 
States  to  this  State  for  the  use  of  schools,  and  to  apply  any  funds  which 
may  be  raised  from  such  lands,  or  from  any  other  source,  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object  for  which  they  are  or  may  be  intended. 
The  General  Assembly  shall  from  time  to  time  pass  such  laws  as 
shall  be  calculated  to  encourage  intellectual,  scientific,  and  agricultural 
improvement  by  allowing  rewards  and  immunities  for  the  promotion 


256  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

and  improvement  of  arts,  science,  commerce,  manufactures,  and 
natural  history,  and  countenance  and  encourage  the  principles  of 
humanity,  industry,  and  morality. 

In  his  inaugural  address  James  S.  Conway,  the  first  governor  of 
the  state,  urged  the  examination  and  collection  of  all  materials 
"calculated  to  enlighten  the  public  mind  and  diffuse  general  and 
useful  knowledge,"  believing  that  the  State  had  ample  means  to 
establish  schools  to  "  insure  universal  education  of  the  youth  of 
our  country."  Educational  interest  gradually  increased,  and  in 
1843  a  law  was  passed  to  establish  a  system  of  public  schools 
in  an  effort  to  unite  all  the  educational  forces  of  the  State.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  local  school  trustees,  who  were  to  have 
control  of  the  school  funds,  to  build  schoolhouses,  to  employ 
competent  teachers,  and  to  provide  for  a  four  months'  school  or 
schools  in  each  township,  in  which  "orthography,  reading,  writ- 
ing, English  grammar,  geography,  arithmetic,  and  good  morals" 
were  to  be  taught.  Provision  was  also  made  for  a  state  board  of 
education,  for  a  board  of  county  school  commissioners  for  each 
county,  and  for  the  purchase  of  books  to  be  used  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  State.  The  schools  were  to  be  supported  by  the 
fund  created  from  the  sixteenth-section  lands  and  by  private 
contributions,  and  children  whose  parents  were  unable  to  con- 
tribute were  classed  and  educated  as  "indigents."  The  principle 
of  state  or  local  taxation  for  school  support  was  absent. 

The  legislation  proved  defective  and  impracticable,  and  in 
1846  Governor  Drew  said  that  the  plan  had  "not  been  carried 
into  successful  operation."  Three  years  later  another  school  law 
was  passed  and  the  sum  of  $250,000  was  appropriated  to  carry 
out  its  provisions,  but  this  seems  to  have  been  nothing  more 
than  a  paper  appropriation.1  Still  further  legislation  was  enacted 
in  1851  in  an  effort  to  consolidate  and  to  improve  the  school 
system  of  the  State,  but  the  provisions  were  not  altogether  unlike 
those  of  previous  legislation.  Governor  John  S.  Roane,  in  his 

1  Weeks,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Arkansas,  chap.  iii. 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  257 

message  to  the  Legislature  in  1852,  was  "convinced  from  a  care- 
ful investigation  into  the  history  of  common  schools  and  other 
public  institutions  of  learning  in  other  new  States,  and  the  prac- 
tical operation  of  this  law  here  at  home,  that  no  possible  good 
has  come  of  it,  or  even  can  result  to  the  State,  or  any  consider- 
able portion  of  the  people."  He  urged  immediate  legislative  im- 
provement, and  largely  as  a  result  of  his  recommendations  a  more 
advanced  law  was  passed  in  1853  which  improved  and  reaffirmed 
some  of  the  provisions  of  the  earlier  laws.  The  secretary  of  State 
became  ex-officio  state  superintendent  of  schools,  and  provision 
was  made  for  county  school  commissioners,  who  were  ex-officio 
county  superintendents,  and  for  local  trustees.  But  there  was 
no  provision  for  taxation  for  school  support.  With  this  exception, 
however,  the  law  of  1853  tended  toward  centralization  and  prom- 
ised a  degree  of  success,  although  in  practical  operation  the  sys- 
tem thus  established  was  more  or  less  disappointing  to  the  advo- 
cates of  public  education  in  the  State. 

David  B.  Greer,  the  secretary  of  State  and  ex-officio  state  super- 
intendent of  schools,  made  his  first  report  in  1854.  At  that  time 
only  a  few  counties  had  made  reports,  and  many  probably  "had  no 
school  organization  whatsoever  under  the  law  then  in  force." 
Greer  saw  "a  gloomy  picture"  in  the  school  conditions  of  the 
State,  but  he  thought  the  "  friends  of  education  should  not  be  dis- 
couraged." Arkansas  had  encountered  the  same  difficulties  in  its 
public  educational  enterprises  which  had  confronted  all  the  new 
and  sparsely  settled  States.  Chief  among  these  obstacles  was  the 
lack  of  a  sound  and  adequate  means  of  school  support  and  "the 
indifference  that  pervades  the  public  mind  on  the  subject  of 
education."  To  overcome  these  difficulties  Greer  urged  state 
taxation  and  the  appointment  of  a  capable  man  for  state  superin- 
tendent to  go  among  the  people  and  stimulate  educational  interest. 
Governor  Elias  N.  Conway  urged,  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature 
in  1854,  that  the  capitation  taxes  be  appropriated  for  educational 
purposes.  For  want  of  adequate  means  only  a  few  schools  had 
been  established  under  the  law  of  1853. 


258  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Greer's  report  for  the  years  1854-1856  showed  that  reports  had 
been  received  from  only  half  the  counties  of  the  State,  and  these 
were  vague,  inexplicit,  and  unsatisfactory.  Few  statistics  were 
given.  It  was  estimated  that  there  were  only  about  twenty-five 
common  schools  in  the  State  which  were  maintained  by  the  public- 
school  fund,  and  Greer  believed  that  the  attempt  to  organize 
and  establish  such  schools  was  almost  an  entire  failure.  Condi- 
tions began  gradually  to  improve,  however,  even  though  the  school 
plan  was  defective  in  principle.  In  1860  there  were  about  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  common  schools  in  operation  in  the  State,  with 
nearly  twenty  thousand  children  in  attendance.  It  appears  that 
the  average  monthly  salary  paid  teachers  was  about  $27.  Besides 
the  common  schools  there  were  more  than  a  hundred  academies, 
on  which  Arkansas  depended  in  great  measure  for  its  chief  source 
of  education  throughout  the  ante-bellum  period.  There,  as  in 
many  other  States  before  the  Civil  War,  it  was  believed  that 
education  was  a  domestic  or  religious  concern  rather  than  a  con- 
cern for  the  State,  and  the  principle  of  public  taxation  as  the 
chief  means  of  school  support  developed  very  slowly. 

Texas  and  Florida  were  the  last  of  the  Southern  States  to 
come  into  the  Union.  The  former  seceded  from  Mexico  in  1836, 
established  its  independence,  and  was  admitted  to  the  American 
Union  in  1845.  Florida  was  admitted  the  same  year.  The  ante- 
bellum educational  careers  of  these  States  were,  therefore,  very 
brief. 

The  constitution  of  the  Mexican  State,  known  as  Coahuila  and 
Texas,  provided  for  the  establishment  of  Mexican  schools  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  instruction  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic, 
the  catechism,  morals,  and  the  constitution,  and  ordered  that  a 
school  plan  be  made  for  the  State.  As  early  as  1828  an  American 
type  of  school  was  organized  under  Spanish  supervision,  and  later 
the  Mexican  government  made  provision  for  instruction  on  the 
Lancasterian  plan  in  several  schools.  Later  still  the  American 
residents  memorialized  the  executive  and  the  Legislature  for  more 
adequate  educational  facilities,  and  in  1833  the  Mexican  State 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  259 

granted  lands  for  schools,  but  the  grant  accomplished  little  good. 
And  one  of  the  grievances  which  Texas  mentioned  in  its  declara- 
tion of  independence  was  the  failure  of  the  Mexican  government 
to  provide  public  schools. 

The  constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  in  1836  said,  "It 
shall  be  the  duty  of  Congress,  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  per- 
mit, to  provide  by  law  a  general  system  of  education."  By  an 
act  of  1839  three  leagues  of  land  were  granted  to  each  organized 
county  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  primary  school  or  acad- 
emy therein,  and  fifty  leagues  for  the  support  of  two  colleges  or 
universities  in  the  Republic.  Slight  educational  advancement 
was  made  under  the  provisions  of  this  act.  In  1840  an  act  was 
passed  making  provision  for  a  board  of  school  commissioners  of 
each  county  to  care  for  local  school  interests.  They  were  empow- 
ered to  organize  the  counties  into  districts,  to  examine  and 
certificate  teachers,  and  to  inspect  the  schools.  Teachers  of  public 
schools  could  not  legally  receive  compensation  for  services  unless 
they  held  the  board's  certificate,  and  all  such  teachers  were  re- 
quired to  be  competent  to  teach  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
English  grammar,  and  geography.  Teachers  in  academies  were 
required  to  be  college  or  university  graduates. 

The  first  constitution  of  Texas,  after  it  became  a  member  of  the 
Union,  contained  the  following  advanced  educational  provisions: 

SECTION  i.  A  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  being  essential  to 
the  preservation  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people,  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State  to  make  suitable  provision 
for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  public  schools. 

SECTION  2.  The  Legislature  shall,  as  early  as  practicable,  establish 
free  schools  throughout  the  State,  and  shall  furnish  means  for  their  sup- 
port by  taxation  on  property;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  set  apart  not  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  annual  revenue  of  the 
State,  derivable  from  taxation,  as  a  perpetual  fund,  which  fund  shall 
be  appropriated  to  the  support  of  free  public  schools ;  and  no  law 
shall  ever  be  made  diverting  said  fund  to  any  other  use;  and  until 
such  time  as  the  Legislature  shall  provide  for  the  establishment  of 
such  schools  in  the  several  districts  of  the  State,  the  fund  thus 


260  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

created  shall  remain  as  a  charge  against  the  State,  passed  to  the  credit 
of  the  free  common-school  fund. 

SECTION  3.  All  public  lands  which  have  been  heretofore,  or  which 
may  hereafter  be,  granted  for  public  schools  to  the  various  counties, 
or  other  political  divisions  in  this  State,  shall  not  be  alienated  in  fee, 
nor  disposed  of  otherwise  than  by  lease  for  a  term  not  exceeding 
twenty  years,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  may  direct 

SECTION  4.  The  several  counties  in  this  State  which  have  not  re- 
ceived their  quantum  of  lands  for  the  purposes  of  education  shall  be 
entitled  to  the  same  quantity  heretofore  appropriated  by  the  Congress 
of  the  Republic  of  Texas  to  other  counties. 

For  several  years  after  Texas  became  one  of  the  United  States 
the  sparsity  of  population  and  the  confusion  and  disorder  which 
grew  out  of  the  war  with  Mexico  delayed  legislative  compliance 
with  the  educational  provisions  of  the  constitution.  By  1854, 
however,  the  population  of  the  State  had  greatly  increased  and 
the  confused  conditions  of  the  times  had  somewhat  disappeared. 
The  State  was  then  ready  to  turn  attention  to  its  educational 
needs,  and  in  January,  1854,  an  act  was  approved  establish- 
ing a  system  of  public  schools.  This  act  provided  for  setting 
apart  for  school  purposes  the  sum  of  $200,000  in  5  per  cent 
United  States  bonds.  The  annual  interest  on  this  fund  was  to  be 
distributed  to  the  various  counties  of  the  State  on  the  basis  of 
free  white  population  between  the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen  years. 

The  chief  justice  and  the  commissioners  of  each  county  were 
constituted  a  board  of  county  school  commissioners  who  were 
to  have  the  counties  of  the  State  formed  into  districts  and  to 
order  an  election  of  three  trustees  for  each  local  school.  These 
trustees  were  to  call  elections  for  the  purpose  of  locating  school- 
houses  and  to  attend  to  the  erection  of  a  schoolhouse  in  each 
district.  Until  a  good  and  substantial  house  with  the  necessary 
equipment  should  be  provided  no  money  could  be  drawn  from  the 
county  treasury  for  school  purposes  in  the  local  district.  The  trus- 
tees were  also  charged  with  the  duty  of  engaging  teachers,  visiting 
the  schools,  and  exercising  general  educational  superintendence 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  261 

in  their  districts.  The  schools  were  to  be  maintained  by  the 
funds  coming  from  the  State  and  by  subscriptions,  and  if  these 
sources  were  not  sufficient  to  pay  the  salaries  agreed  upon,  the 
trustees  had  authority  to  levy  rate  bills  on  the  patrons  to  supply 
the  deficiencies.  Under  the  law  the  treasurer  of  the  State  was 
ex-officio  state  superintendent  of  schools.  The  state  appor- 
tionment of  school  funds  was  made  annually  on  the  basis  of 
statements  made  by  the  tax  assessors  and  collectors  concerning 
the  number  of  school  children  in  each  district.  These  and  other 
records  were  kept  by  the  treasurer  of  the  State,  to  whom  the 
local  trustees  were  required  to  report  annually.  The  state  treas- 
urer was  likewise  required  to  make  annual  reports  to  the  governor. 

This  act  and  a  few  minor  revisions  remained  until  the  Civil  War 
the  legal  basis  of  the  common-school  system  of  Texas.  The  law 
did  not  prevent  local  trustees  from  employing  teachers  of  the 
primary  department  of  any  college,  academy,  or  other  private 
school,  or  from  converting  such  department  into  a  common  school 
for  the  local  district  if  the  patrons  so  desired  and  so  instructed 
the  trustees.  This  soon  came  to  be  a  widely  popular  practice  in 
the  State  and  led  in  many  instances  to  the  ingrafting  of  so-called 
public  schools  on  private  or  incorporated  institutions — a  practice 
which  prevailed  more  or  less  widely  throughout  the  South  during 
ante-bellum  days  and,  to  some  extent,  later.  In  1860  there  were 
1218  public  schools  reported  in  the  State,  with  1274  teachers  and 
nearly  37,000  pupils,  supported  at  an  expenditure  of  more  than 
$414,000.  The  schools  could  hardly  be  called  free  schools,  how- 
ever, since  the  larger  part  of  their  support  was  from  tuition  fees, 
even  though  after  1846  one  tenth  of  the  annual  revenues  of  the 
State,  in  addition  to  the  income  from  the  school  fund,  was  said 
to  have  been  appropriated  for  school  purposes  in  accordance  with 
constitutional  requirement. 

Florida  was  made  a  territory  in  1819,  but  almost  nothing  was 
done  for  public  education  until  1831,  when  the  Florida  Education 
Society  was  formed  u  to  diffuse  information  on  the  subject  of  edu- 
cation and  to  secure  the  establishment  of  a  school  system  for  the 


262  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

territory."  In  the  same  year  the  governor  was  authorized  to 
appoint  three  commissioners  to  examine  into  the  need  for  schools 
and  to  report  a  plan  suited  to  the  needs  and  resources  of  the 
territory.  A  women's  educational  organization  was  formed  in 
the  State  about  the  same  time,  and  considerable  interest  was 
shown  in  public  schools.  In  1832  provision  was  made  for  a 
Fellenberg  manual-labor  school  at  Tallahassee,  and  a  so-called 
"common  school"  was  set  up  at  St.  Augustine. 

In  1839  educational  legislation  was  enacted  which  provided  for 
a  form  of  local  organization  and  administration  similar  to  that 
in  use  in  other  States  at  that  time.  Provision  was  made  for  three 
township  trustees  to  care  for  the  school  lands  and  to  apply  the 
income  to  school  support.  This  problem  was  a  most  difficult  one, 
however,  because  many  townships  were  practically  uninhabited  at 
that  time.  In  1843  the  county  sheriffs  were  made  commissioners 
for  the  care  of  school  lands,  and  the  funds  accruing  from  these 
sources  were  appropriated  to  the  education  of  poor  children. 
In  1845,  ^e  year  that  Florida  entered  the  Union,  the  county  pro- 
bate judges  were  made  ex-officio  county  school  superintendents, 
one  of  whose  duties  was  to  receive  educational  reports  from  the 
local  trustees  and  to  forward  them  to  the  secretary  of  State,  who 
embodied  them  in  his  report  to  the  Legislature. 

The  constitution  of  Florida,  under  which  the  territory  became 
a  State  in  1845,  was  framed  in  1838  and  provided  for  a  perpetual 
fund  to  be  appropriated  for  the  use  of  public  schools.  The  first 
school  law  enacted  after  the  State  was  admitted  to  the  Union  was 
the  act  of  1849,  which  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a  school 
system.  The  following  year  the  registrar  of  public  lands  was  made 
ex-officio  state  superintendent  of  public  schools,  and  county  taxa- 
tion for  school  support  was  authorized,  but  this  part  of  the  law 
seems  to  have  been  effective  only  in  Monroe  and  Franklin  Coun- 
ties. The  school  fund  at  this  time  was  by  common  consent  ap- 
plied almost  exclusively  to  the  education  of  the  poor  children. 
In  1852  Tallahassee  established  a  public  school  which  was  sup- 
ported by  a  public  levy  in  the  town,  and  this  school  was  among 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  263 

the  earliest  town  schools  in  the  South  supported  by  taxation. 
About  the  same  time  legal  provision  was  made  for  establishing 
two  seminaries,  one  in  East  and  one  in  West  Florida,  on  lands 
previously  granted  by  Congress  for  that  purpose.  According  to 
the  law  the  first  purpose  of  these  institutions  was  "  the  instruction 
of  persons,  both  male  and  female,  in  the  art  of  teaching  all  the 
various  branches  that  pertain  to  a  good  common  school  educa- 
tion," and  "instruction  in  the  mechanic  arts,  in  husbandry  and 
agricultural  chemistry,  in  the  fundamental  laws,  and  in  what 
regards  the  rights  and  duties  of  citizens."  Each  county  was  en- 
titled to  send  to  one  of  these  seminaries  as  many  pupils  as  it  had 
representatives  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  One  of  these  schools 
was  set  up  at  Ocala  and  later  moved  to  Gainesville,  and  the  other 
was  established  at  Tallahassee ;  and,  with  temporary  interrup- 
tions, they  had  long  and  useful  careers  as  educational  agencies. 

Just  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  public  sentiment  in 
Florida  was  rapidly  developing  in  favor  of  public  free  schools. 
Legislation  was  being  revised  and  improved,  the  idea  of  taxation 
for  school  support  was  gaining  strength,  and  improvement  was 
generally  appearing.  Interest  in  normal-school  work  was  espe- 
cially gaining  at  the  close  of  the  ante-bellum  period.  The  chief 
weaknesses  of  the  school  plan,  however,  were  a  lack  of  adequate 
financial  support  and  the  absence  of  effective  state  supervision. 
The  total  income  from  the  State  for  educational  purposes  in 
1860  was  about  $75,000,  and  of  this  amount  nearly  $23,000 
came  from  the  school-fund  income.  But  the  report  of  the  ex- 
officio  superintendent  for  the  closing  years  of  the  period  under 
discussion  showed  that  several  counties  "were  taking  hold  of  the 
public  schools  and  running  them  for  three  months  "  and  that  such 
schools  cost  less  and  were  superior  to  private  schools. 

From  this  general  description  of  educational  development  in  the 
South  before  1860  it  may  be  yen  that  the  response  to  the  ante- 
bellum-cdticational  revival  was  not  so  prompt  and  effective  there 
as  in'spjriejrtEeT^arts  of  the  country.  But  £xen  in  that  jegion 
a  new~educational  consciousness  was  being  awakened.  During 


264  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  two  decades  immediately  preceding  the  war  the  ground  was 
being  prepared  for  a  more  wholesome  conception  of  education  as 
a  function  of  the  State,  and  the  Southern  States  generally  were 
responding  or  were  preparing  to  respond  to  the  increased  de- 
mands for  public  schools  when  the  conflict  of  1861-1865  inter- 
rupted the  movement. 

Long  legislative  struggles  were  necessary  before  adequate  and 
complete  laws  were  secured  for  the  public  support  and  supervision 
of  schools.  This  was  the  experience  of  practically  every  State,  for 
legislative  action  followed  far  behind  the  advanced  recommenda- 
tions of  the  advocates  of  universal  and  free  elementary  education. 
But  in  the  South£in_States  several  factors  and  influences  espe- 
cially served  to  retard  the  force  of  the  revival  spirit  which  was  so 
effectively  felt  in  some  other  sections.  ChieLamong  these  factors 
was  the  institution  of  slavery,  which  tended  to  pronounce  class  and 
social  distinctions  and  to  widen  the  line  which  separatecT  the 
independent  Irom  the  dependent  part  of  the  community.  Aris- 
tocratic  notions  and  conceptions  colored  political  as^well  as  social 
action.  Moreover,  class  and  sectional  struggles  appeared  jvithin 
several  of  the  Southern  States,  and  these  held  backjiie  cause  of 
~ schools.  Liberal  constitutional  provision^ for  general  elementary 
education  appeared  before  1860.  but  thfijdea  early  appeared  and 
continued  to  prevail  that  free  public^  schools  were  to  be  provided 
by  the  Stale  primarily,  if  at  all^for  the  children  of  the  poor  and 
dependent:  Those  opposing  a  state-supported  and  state-controlled 
school  system  for  all  children  argued  that  it  would  make  education 
tojjjborrimon,  serve  to  changlTthe  status  of  those  whose  social 
position  was  fixed,  and  break  down  certain  social  barriers. 

Conflicts  with  religious  and  sectarian  interests  also  served  for  a 
time  to  delay  the  acceptance  of  the  democratic  theory  of  educa- 
tion. Voluntary  agencies  had  long  been  depended  on  for  elemen- 
tary education  for  poor  children,  and  the  practice  of  appropriating 
public-school  funds  to  private  and  sometimes  to  denominational 
schools  rather  strengthened  opposition  to  a  state  school  system. 
The  theory  that  education  by  the  State  was  an  intrusion  into  the 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  265 

parental  obligation,  and,  as  such,  was  dangerous  and  pagan,  had 
force  also-and  persisted  for  many  years.  Objection  to  taxes  except 
for  ordinary  expenses  of  government,  and  a  rather  widespread 
belief  that  those  having  no  children  should  not  be  taxed  to  support 
schools,,  likewise  retarded  public  education.  Moreover,  when 
beginnings  had  been  made  there  was  a  general  tendency  in  all  the 
Southern  States  to  place  educational  authority  in  small  local  units 
where  selfish  and  provincial  interests  were  strong  and  where  com- 
munity cooperation  was  most  difficult  to  secure.  Among  certain 
classes  of  people  there  was  the  belief  that  a  state  system  of  schools 
was  visionary  and  impractical.  To  combat  these  and  other  objec- 
tions and  to  overcome  the  prejudices  against  public  schools  re- 
quired long  and  patient  effort  of  many  agencies  before  the  cause  of 
universal  and  free  education  for  all  could  gain  strength  and 
popular  favor. 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind  also  that  the  South  was  then,  as  it  has 
always  been,  essentially  rural.  It  was  a  region  of  country  people 
who  were  sparsely  settled.  They  were  slow  to  respond  to  new 
movements  and  advanced  ideas  because  this  sparsity  and  the  poor 
conditions  of  means  of  communication  prevented  an  extension  of 
such  movements  and  ideas  to  them.  Methods  of  farming  were 
primitive,  markets  were  undeveloped,  industrial  centers  were  few, 
and  life  in  the  South  was  generally  lonely  and  isolated.  Com- 
munity and  neighborhood  cooperation  was  practically  unknown. 
The  persistence  of  some  of  these  conditions  helps  to  explain  the  low 
educational  rank  of  the  South  at  the  present  time.1  Education  in 
representative  cities  compared  favorably  with  education  in  cities 
elsewhere,  but  outside  such  centers  the  problem  in  the  South  is  to 
provide  for  large  numbers  of  children  who  are  scattered  over  vast 
areas.  This  is  one  reason  why  the  condition  of  rural  education 
presents  the  most  immediately  urgent  task  confronting  the  South 
at  this  time. 

The  factors  and  influences  which  tended  to  promote  public 
schools  were  not  so  numerous  or  unusual  in  the  South  before 

1  See  Ayres,  An  Index  Number  for  State  School  Systems.   New  York,  1920. 


266  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

1860,  but  considerable  force  had  been  gained  for  the  cause  by  that 
date.  The  increase  in  population  and  the  lack  of  a  corresponding 
increase  in  adequate  facilities  for  schools  drew  attention  to  the 
new  educational  needs.  Open  letters  and  addresses  on  the  sub- 
ject were  published  in  the  press,  education  societies  were  formed 
and  had  a  wide  range  of  activities  (especially  during  the  closing 
years  of  the  ante-bellum  period),  and  elaborate  legislative  reports 
and  studies  were  made  for  purposes  of  propaganda.  As  noted  at 
the  beginning  of  this  chapter  the  extension  of  the  franchise  made 
the  need  for  more  schools  appear  rather  acute.  From  the  thirties 
to  the  late  fifties  the  recommendations  of  the  governors  and  the 
reports  of  state  school  officers  likewise  effected  a  change  in  public 
attitude  and  often  influenced  legislative  action.  The  cheapness  of 
the  Lancasterian  system  of  monitorial  instruction,  which  was 
adopted  in  many  towns  and  cities  in  the  South,  assisted  in  develop- 
ing sentiment  for  public  schools,  though  its  influence  was  not  so 
great  in  that  region  as  in  those  sections  which  had  larger  centers. 
This  method  of  instruction  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  state 
taxation.  The  Sunday  school,  which  was  organized  primarily 
not  to  give  religious  instruction  but  to  teach  poor  children  to 
read  and  to  write,  also  proved  an  aid  in  promoting  the  public- 
school  idea.  Virginia,  which  was  a  pioneer  in  this  movement, 
and  other  Southern  States  responded  very  promptly  and  effec- 
tively to  this  educational  interest,  which  drew  the  attention  of  the 
more  prosperous  and  better-educated  class  of  the  community  to 
the  educational  needs  of  the  less  prosperous  and  the  ignorant. 

These  and  other  forces  and  agencies  were  at  work  at  one  time 
or  another  in  the  South  before  the  Civil  War.  Most  of  the  States 
in  that  region  passed  rather  slowly  through  the  process  of  democ- 
ratizing education,  and  the  principle  of  public  education,  as  it  is 
understood  today,  was  not  early  and  fully  accepted  by  any  of 
them.  But  that  principle  had  not  gained  complete  and  practical 
acceptance  anywhere  in  the  United  States  before  the  Civil  War. 
Yet  even  in  the  Southern  States,  where  the  contests  for  free 
schools  were  very  fierce,  considerable  progress  was  made  for  public 


ATTEMPTS  AT  REFORM  267 

elementary  education.  And  on  the  eve  of  that  great  conflict  those 
States  were  generally  preparing  to  accept  the  democratic  idea  of 
schools  supported  and  controlled  by  the  State.  But  for  the 
Civil  War  and  its  dreadful  aftermath  the  history  of  public  edu- 
cation in  the  South  would  be  a  different  and  a  better  story. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  List  the  obstacles  to  public   educational  development  in  the 
South  or  in  a  given  Southern  State  before   1860  under   (a)   social, 
(6)  economic,  (c)  political,  (d)  religious. 

2.  List  the  factors  or  agencies  which  tended  to  promote  public 
schools  in  the  South  or  in  a  given  Southern  State  before  the  Civil  War. 

3.  Make  a  study  of  the  legislative  conflict  over  the  subject  of 
public  support  and  control  of  schools  in  your  State  between  1830  and 
1860.    What  were  the  defects  of  the  method  or  methods  of  school 
support  in  your  State  before  1860? 

4.  List  the  arguments  for  and  those  against  public  schools  in  your 
State  before  1860  and  compare  or  contrast  them  with  arguments  made 
for  and  against  the  proposed  extension  of  public  education  today. 

5.  Study  the  principal   features   of  the  Lancasterian  system   of 
schools  and  account  for  its  popularity  in  cities  where  it  was  adopted. 
How  widely  was  the  system  adopted  in  your  State? 

6.  Trace  the  development  of  the  Sunday-school  movement  in  your 
State  and  point  out  its  value  to  public  education. 

7.  Account  for  the  element  of  charity  which  was  present  in  prac- 
tically all  public-school  plans  established  in  the  South  before   1860. 
Account  for  the  persistence  of  the  "pauper  school"  idea  in  public 
education. 

8.  Study  the  relation  of  density  of  population  to  public  educational 
development.    In  what  way  does  the  growth  of  cities  affect  public 
education  ? 

9.  Show  the  actual  influence  on  public  educational  sentiment  of 
the  extension  of  suffrage  and  the  increase  in  elective  offices. 

10.  List  the  principal  factors  on  which  rural-school  improvement 
depends  in  your  State.   Why  is  rural  education  such  an  immediately 
urgent  and  difficult  problem  in  the  South  today  ? 

11.  Trace  the  development  of  taxation  for  schools  in  your  State. 


268  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

12.  What  part  of  the  school  population  was  enrolled  in  schools  in 
your  State  before  1860?    What  part  is  enrolled  today? 

13.  Make  a  study  of  educational  journals  and  of  teachers'  associa- 
tions in  your  State  prior  to  the  Civil  War. 

14.  Explain  the  popularity  of  the  district  system  of  schools.    Point 
out  the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages  of  the  system  in  the  South 
before  1860.    What  are  its  advantages  and  disadvantages  today? 

15.  Trace  the  development  of  the  chief  county  school  officer  (super- 
intendent) in  your  State ;  of  the  chief  state  school  officer.    Compare 
the  duties  of  each  of  these  officers  today  with  the  duties  of  corre- 
sponding officers  in  the  South  before  1860. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  BARNARD,  The  American 
Journal  of  Education,  30  vols.  Hartford,  1855-1881.  Circulars  of  informa- 
tion, United  States  Bureau  of  Education :  BLACKMAR,  History  of  Federal 
and  State  Aid  to  Higher  Education  in  the  United  States  (Washingon,  1890)  ; 
BUSH,  History  of  Education  in  Florida  (Washington,  1889)  ;  CLARK,  His- 
tory of  Education  in  Alabama  (Washington,  1889)  ;  FAY,  History  of  Edu- 
cation in  Louisiana  (Washington,  1898)  ;  JONES,  Education  in  Georgia 
(Washington,  1889)  ;  LANE,  History  of  Education  in  Texas  (Washington, 
1903)  ;  MAYES,  History  of  Education  in  Mississippi  (Washington,  1899)  ; 
MERIWETHER,  History  of  Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina  (Washington, 
1899)  ;  MERRIAM,  Higher  Education  in  Tennessee  (Washington,  1893)  ; 
SHINN,  History  of  Education  in  Arkansas  (Washington,  1900) ;  SMITH, 
History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina  (Washington,  1888).  CALVIN, 
Popular  Education  in  Georgia.  Augusta,  1870.  CUBBERLEY,  Public  Educa- 
tion in  the  United  States.  Boston,  1919.  FICKLEN,  "  The  Origin  and  Develop- 
ment of  the  Public-School  System  in  Louisiana,"  in  the  Report  of  the 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1894-1895,  Vol.  IL _  HEAIWOLE, 
A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  Journals  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  various  States.  KNIGHT,  The  Influence  of  Reconstruc- 
tion on  Education  in  the  South.  New  York,  1913.  KNIGHT,  Public  School 
Education  in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.  LEWIS,  Report  on  Public 
Education  in  Georgia.  Milledgeville,  1860.  MADDOX,  The  Free  School 
Idea  in  Virginia  before  the  Civil  War.  New  York,  1918.  POORE,  The 
Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  2  vols.  Washington,  1877.  Public  Docu- 
ments of  the  various  States.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education 
in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  Education  in 
Arkansas.  Washington,  1912.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education 
in  Tennessee.  Washington,  1917. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  From  the  available  materials  of  the  period 
a  fairly  adequate  account  may  be  had  of  school  practices  in  the  South 
before  1860. 

2.  The  curriculum  was  narrow,  the  three  R's  occupying  the  first 
places  of  importance.    In  these  subjects  a  great  variety  of  books  were 
used,  and  uniformity  of  texts  was  practically  unknown.    The   "Old 
Blue  Back  Speller,"  the  "New  England  Primer,"  and  the  "New  York 
Reader"  were  very  popular. 

3.  Arithmetic  occupied  an  important  place,  and  texts  by  Colburn, 
Pike,  and  Jess  were  most  widely  used. 

4.  Geography  was  slow  to  find  a  distinct  place  in  the  curriculum, 
but  texts  on  the  subject  were  often  used  as  readers,  histories,  and 
moral  guides.   Numerous  texts  were  used,  but  those  of  Morse,  Olney, 
and  Peter  Parley  (Goodrich)  were  most  frequently  found. 

5.  History  and  grammar  were  tardily  recognized  for  proper  places 
in  the  school.    Texts  on  history  were  used  primarily  as  reading  ma- 
terials.   Texts  on  grammar  were  regarded  as  intricate  and  dry,  and 
the  purpose  and  methods  of  teaching  this  subject  differed  greatly  from 
present-day  practices. 

6.  Toward  the  close  of  the  ante-bellum  period,  and  especially  during 
the  war,  the  Southern  States  became  interested  in  publishing  their 
own  textbooks,  because  of  the  sectionalism  of  that  period. 

7.  Incompetent   teachers,   wasteful   methods,   harsh   discipline,   un- 
comfortable buildings,  and  meager  equipment  were  among  the  defects 
of  the  schools.    Many  of  the  practices  of  the  time  are  described  by 
contemporary  accounts. 

8.  After  1860,  improvements  appeared  in  educational  practices,  but 
only  after  many  years  of  toil  and  determination  to  restore  resources 
and  the  confidence  of  the  people. 

The  practical   operation  of  any  educational  system  is  more 
difficult  to  describe  than  the  theory  and  laws  on  which  the  system 

269 


270  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

is  built,  and  the  more  remote  the  period  the  more  difficult  is  an 
adequate  and  safe  description  of  its  practices.  A  scarcity  of 
concrete  illustrative  materials  of  no  more  remote  days  than  the 
ante-bellum  period  makes  it  difficult  to  give  a  fair  description  of 
actual  practices  of  that  time.  The  poor  system  of  bookkeeping  then 
in  use  makes  it  practically  impossible  to  give  an  intelligible  ac- 
count of  the  fiscal  features  of  the  ante-bellum  schools ;  and  local 
school  officials,  either  ignorantly  or  negligently,  often  failed  to 
record  in  permanent  form  details  which,  apparently  unimportant 
then,  now  appear  important  and  of  great  value  historically  and 
for  purposes  of  comparison.  Moreover,  at  that  time  the  reports 
of  state  educational  officers  were  irregular  and  indefinite,  and 
those  which  are  accessible  are  frequently  unreliable  and  there- 
fore unsatisfactory  sources  of  information.  However,  a  careful 
study  of  the  few  illustrative  materials  available  affords  the  basis 
of  a  suggestive  and  a  more  or  less  adequate  account  of  educa- 
tional practices  in  the  South  before  1860.  In  such  an  account 
the  curriculum,  or  course  of  study,  schoolbooks,  material  equip- 
ment, teachers  and  methods  of  teaching,  and  school  customs 
are  among  the  more  interesting  features.  The  principles  and 
practices  of  actual  school  support  in  the  various  Southern 
States  during  the  period  under  consideration  were  noted  in  the 
preceding  chapter. 

The  curriculum  of  the  common  school  of  .the  Southern  States 
during  the  ante-bellum  period  was  very  narrow,  consisting  of  the 
minimum  essentials  of  an  English  education — reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  and  spelling.  These  monopolized  the  course  of  study 
for  many  years  and  were  the  subjects  on  which  teachers  were 
usually  examined,  when  they  were  examined  at  all.  Calvin  H. 
Wiley,  North  Carolina's  ante-bellum  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  in  the  fifties  urged  that  the  female  teachers  of  that 
State  be  examined  on  these  subjects  and  that  the  male  teachers 
be  required,  in  addition,  to  show  a  knowledge  of  and  ability  to 
teach  grammar  and  geography.  This  requirement  was  not  gen- 
eral, however,  in  the  South.  Geography,  history,  and  grammar 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  271 

were  looked  upon  as  advanced  subjects  and  found  places  in 
the  curriculum  very  tardily,  and  texts  in  geography  and  history, 
when  used  at  all,  served  as  reading  books  rather  than  as  guides 
for  geographical  and  historical  study. 

Uniformity  of  texts  was  practically  unknown;  and  one  of 
the  evils  which  naturally  resulted  was  "the  multiplicity  and  fre- 
quent change"  of  books  which  accumulated  expenses  on  the 
parents  and  guardians  and  retarded  the  progress  of  the  school 
work.  Teachers  were  often  embarrassed  .by  having  large  schools 
with  nearly  every  child  in  a  separate  class.  Those  who  had  an 
interest  in  educational  advancement  occasionally  urged  the  adop- 
tion of  uniform  texts  in  an  effort  to  drive  out  poor  books,  to  pre- 
vent frequent  and  unwise  changes,  and  to  aid  in  developing  a 
form  of  student  classification  and  grading  which  would  not 
otherwise  have  been  possible  at  that  time. 

Although  so-called  uniform  texts  were  not  adopted  in  any 
Southern  State  before  the  war,  an  occasional  "  list "  was  suggested 
or  recommended.  At  a  convention  of  school  officials  and  teachers 
in  Augusta  County,  Virginia,  in  1853,  the  following  books  were 
recommended  for  use  in  the  common  schools  of  that  State :  Web- 
ster's Speller,  McGuffey's  or  Mandeville's  Readers,  Brown's  or 
Bailey's  English  Grammar,  Mitchell's  or  Smith's  Geography,  and 
Colburn's  or  Davies's  Arithmetics.  In  the  report  of  Superintend- 
ent Wiley  in  the  same  year  the  following  books  were  recommended 
for  the  schools  of  North  Carolina:  Webster's  Speller,  Wiley's 
u  North  Carolina  Reader,"  Parker's  First  and  Second  Readers, 
Davies's  Arithmetics,  Emerson's  Arithmetic,  Mitchell's  "Interme- 
diate Geography"  (North  Carolina  Edition),  Bullion's  Grammar, 
and  Worcester's  Comprehensive  Dictionary. 

Perhaps  the  nearest  approach  to  a  semiuniformity  of  texts  for 
use  in  the  public  schools  was  made  in  Arkansas,  where,  under  an 
act  of  1843,  provision  was  made  for  purchasing  books  for  distri- 
bution in  the  counties  in  proportion  to  the  scholastic  popula- 
tion. From  the  report  of  the  auditor  it  appears  that  the  "  United 
States  Primer,"  Webster's  "Spelling  Book,"  Goodrich's  Readers, 


272  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Willard's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  Morse's  Geography, 
Davies's  Arithmetics,  Gallaudet's  Dictionary,  and  Bullion's  "Eng- 
lish Grammar"  were  used  in  that  State.  The  books  were  not  dis- 
tributed free  of  charge,  however,  nor  does  it  appear  that  the 
method  of  distribution,  through  the  auditor's  office,  was  a  success. 
In  1855  Superintendent  Perry,  of  Alabama,  recommended  a  long 
list  of  books  for  the  children  of  that  State  and  professional  books 
for  the  teachers.  The  books  for  the  children  were  similar  to  those 
used  elsewhere ;  those  recommended  for  the  teachers  were  Potter 
and  Emerson's  "The  School  and  the  Schoolmaster,"  Page's  "The- 
ory and  Practice  of  Teaching,"  Abbott's  "The  Teacher,"  Alcott's 
"Slate  and  Blackboard  Exercises,"  Mayhew's  "Popular  Educa- 
tion," Mansfield's  "American  Education,"  and  Barnard's  "School 
Architecture."  From  the  beginning  of  the  primary-school  system 
in  Virginia  books  and  writing  materials  were  furnished  free  to  all 
children  whose  parents  were  unable  to  bear  such  an  expense,  and 
this  practice  prevailed  also  in  other  Southern  States. 

The  list  mentioned  above  by  no  means  included  all  the  texts 
which  were  actually  in  use  in  the  South  before  1860.  In  addition 
to  Webster's  famous  book,  which  was  most  extensively  used  not 
only  in  the  Southern  States  but  in  all  sections  of  the  country  before 
the  war,  the  following  spellers  were  also  widely  used:  Barry's 
Speller,  Burton's  Speller,  Cobb's  Speller,  Comly's  Speller,  Dil- 
worth's  Speller,  Emerson's  Speller,  "The  Eclectic  Speller,"  Ely's 
Speller,  Fenning's  Speller,  Hazen's  Speller  and  Definer,  Kirby's 
Speller,  Marshall's  Speller,  Mayo's  Speller,  Murray's  Speller,  "The 
National  Spelling  Book,"  "The  United  States  Speller,"  "The 
Universal  Speller,"  "The  Union  Spelling  Book,"  Town's  "Spell- 
ing Book,"  "The  Western  Speller,"  and  Wood's  Speller. 

Spelling  books  during  the  ante-bellum  period  were  not  in- 
tended or  used  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  spelling, 
but  served  the  threefold  purpose  of  readers,  moral  instructors, 
and  guides.  The  most  famous  of  all  the  texts  on  the  subject  was 
Webster's,  popularly  known  as  the  "Old  Blue  Back,"  which  was 
in  wide  use  in  the  schools  of  this  country  until  comparatively 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  273 

recent  years.  Even  young  people  of  today  are  familiar  with  or 
have  heard  of  this  celebrated  book.  It  was  planned  after  Dil- 
worth's  Speller  (a  well-known  English  spelling  book)  and  was 
originally  bound  on  the  back  with  leather  and  on  the  sides  with 
thin  pieces  of  oak  which  were  covered  with  a  blue  paper,  from 
which  it  got  its  persisting  name.  For  two  decades  after  its  appear- 
ance the  book  bore  the  high-sounding  title  of  "The  First  Part  of 
a  Grammatical  Institute  of  the  English  Language."  Later  the  name 
was  changed  to  the  "American  Spelling-Book,"  and  later  still  to 
"The  Elementary  Spelling-Book."  Each  printer  who  published 
the  book  varied  minor  parts  of  his  issue  according  to  his  own 
fancy:  one  issue  carried  a  portrait  of  "The  Father  of  his  Coun- 
try," and  another  bore  a  woodcut  of  the  author  which  "made 
him  look  like  a  porcupine."  When  the  first  edition  was  in  prepara- 
tion Webster  had  to  give  bond  to  guarantee  the  printers  against 
any  possible  losses.  But  in  1817  one  publisher  gave  the  author 
"three  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  his  term  of  copyright,  and 
another  gave  forty  thousand  for  the  privilege  of  publishing  editions 
for  fourteen  years."  At  the  time  of  the  author's  death,  in  1842,  a 
million  copies  of  the  book  were  being  distributed  annually. 

The  influence  of  this  book  can  hardly  be  estimated.  Spelling 
became  a  fad  almost  simultaneously  with  its  appearance,  and 
"spelling  bees"  soon  came  to  be  a  very  popular  school  exercise. 
In  the  South,  where  schoolbooks  were  scarce,  the  "Old  Blue  Back" 
was  often  the  first  book  put  into  the  hands  of  the  child  when  he 
entered  school  and  often  was  the  only  book  many  children  ever 
studied.  It  served  as  primer,  speller,  reader,  and  moral  guide. 
The  reading  lessons  in  the  book  were  intended  "to  combine,  with 
the  familiarity  of  objects,  useful  truth,  and  practical  principles." 
A  moral  catechism  on  humility,  revenge,  industry,  sobriety, 
pride,  honesty,  and  other  subjects,  and  short  stories  (each  with  a 
moral  appended)  were  other  features  of  the  book.1 

Comly's  "A  New  Spelling-book,"  published  at  Philadelphia  in 
1806,  in  its  use  in  the  South  was  second  to  the  "Old  Blue  Back." 

1  Johnson,  Old-time  Schools  and  School-books. 


274  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Comly's  spelling  book,  also  was  intended  to  serve  as  both  a  reader 
and  speller.  The  reading  matter  was  of  a  more  or  less  serious 
nature,  which  was  true  of  nearly  all  schoolbooks  of  the  period. 
One  of  the  first  thoughts  which  the  youth  met  in  Comly's  book 
was,  "All  of  us,  my  son,  are  to  die."  Another  speller  which  found 
extensive  use  in  the  South  before  the  war  was  Hazen's  "Symbolical 
Speller  and  Definer,"  which  appeared  in  1829.  The  principle  on 
which  this  book  was  prepared  was  Verba  explicantur  symbolis, 
and  the  work  was  obviously  intended  to  supplant  certain  old- 
fashioned  spellers  in  which  difficult  words  occurred  "before  the 
pupils  could  acquire  sufficient  knowledge  of  letters  to  read  them 
with  facility."  The  principle  of  pictorial  representation  was  also 
used  in  the  book,  and  connected  with  each  picture  were  several 
words  which  rimed  with  the  name  of  the  object  represented.  Cer- 
tain advantages  were  claimed  for  this  arrangement,  since  "in 
learning  to  spell,  the  sounds  of  the  letters  and  the  forms  of  the 
words  are  the  chief  objects  of  recollection." 

Among  the  primers  which  were  most  widely  used  in  the  South 
before  the  war  were  the  following:  "The  American  Primer,"  "The 
Baltimore  Primer,"  Cobb's  Primer,  Hanson's  "Symbolical 
Primer,"  "The  Juvenile  Primer,"  "The  New  York  Primer," 
"The  New  England  Primer,"  "The  Philadelphia  Primer,"  "The 
Union  Primer,"  "The  United  States  Primer,"  "The  Washington 
Primer,"  Webster's  Primer,  and  Worcester's  Primer.  Of  these 
"The  New  England  Primer"  was  for  many  generations  the  most 
popular.  It  found  extensive  use  in  the  primary  schools  through- 
out all  sections  of  the  country  and  was  in  use  in  several  of  the 
Southern  States  after  it  had  fallen  into  neglect  in  other  sections. 
This  book  was  probably  in  use  in  New  England  as  early  as  1690. 
It  went  through  many  editions  and  served  also  as  a  type  for  a 
variety  of  other  similar  primers.  Some  of  these  varied  the  illustra- 
tions, the  quotations,  and  the  moral  tales  in  which  the  original 
abounded,  though  now  and  then  direct  copying  from  it  appeared 
in  the  less  celebrated  ones.  For  example,  "  The  American  Primer," 
which  was  published  in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  in  1803,  and  which 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  275 

became  more  or  less  popular  in  the  South,  followed  "The  New 
England  Primer"  very  closely  in  several  places. 

"The  New  England  Primer"  began  with  the  alphabet,  which 
was  followed  by  easy  syllables  and  then  by  syllables  and  words  of 
increasing  difficulty.  The  remainder  of  the  book  was  largely  "a 
religious  and  moral  miscellany  of  verse  and  prose"  collected 
from  a  great  variety  of  sources.  Prominent  in  this  miscellany 
was  a  "picture  alphabet — a  series  of  twenty-four  tiny  pictures, 
each  accompanied  by  a  two-line  or  three-line  jingle."  This  riming 
method  of  teaching  was  very  old,  perhaps  much  older  than  "The 
New  England  Primer."  The  book  went  through  many  editions, 
which  were  varied  from  time  to  time,  and  had  a  long  and  wide  use. 
The  towns  discarded  it  first,  but  it  continued  to  be  used  in  the 
country  districts  late  into  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  reported 
in  use  in  several  counties  in  Virginia  in  the  forties,  and  other 
States  were  also  using  it  then  and  later.  The  total  sales  of  this 
little  book  were  estimated  at  three  million  copies.  "The  Ameri- 
can Primer,"  a  little  book  of  seventy-five  pages,  was  also  exten- 
sively used  in  the  South  before  the  war.  The  reading  lessons 
which  it  contained  consisted  of  short  stories  which  illustrated 
obedience,  goodness,  love,  mercy,  forgiveness,  and  fondness  for 
school,  for  books,  for  parents  and  playmates.  It  also  contained 
religious  verse  and  numerous  moral  tales. 

The  list  of  reading  books  in  use  in  the  South  before  1860  was 
even  larger  than  the  number  of  primers.  Reading,  together  with 
writing  and  ciphering,  occupied  the  major  portion  of  the  curricu- 
lum during  that  time,  and  almost  any  printed  matter  which  could 
be  furnished  the  children  served  as  a  textbook  on  the  subject. 
Some  of  the  materials  reported  as  readers  were  Bingham's  "Amer- 
ican Preceptor,"  Blair's  "Reading  Exercises,"  Baxter's  "Call,"  the 
Bible  and  Sabbath-school  books,  Cabinet  Library,  Class  Read- 
ers, Child's  Library,  "Child's  Books,"  "Child  at  Home,"  Cobb's 
"Reading  Books,"  "Columbian  Orator,"  "Come  and  Welcome 
to  Christ,"  Edgeworth's  "Early  Lessons,"  "Eclectic  Reader," 
Emerson's  Readers,  "Evening  Entertainment,"  "Fascinating 


276  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Companion,"  "Family  Story  Book,"  Hall's  "Western  Reader," 
Hervey's  "Meditations,"  "Juvenile  Readers,"  Kay's  Reader, 
McGuffey's  Readers,  Mandeville's  Readers,  "Moral  Instruc- 
tor," "Mother  at  Home,"  Murray's  "English  Reader,  Introduc- 
tion and  Sequel,"  "National  Reader,"  "New  England  Reader," 
"The  New  York  Readers"  (Nos.  r,  2,  and  3),  "New  York  Ex- 
positor," New  Testament,  "Orator's  Assistant,"  "Panorama  of 
Arts,"  "Parent's  Cabinet,"  Parley's  "Tales,"  Parley's  Reader, 
"Popular  Lessons,"  "Pleasing  Companion,"  "Pilgrim's  Progress," 
"Robinson  Crusoe,"  Scott's  "Lessons,"  "Southern  Reader,"  The 
Spectator,  Town's  "Little  Thinker,"  United  States  Constitution, 
"United  States  Readers,"  "The  Virginian  Orator,"  and  many 
others.  Of  these  Murray's  Reader  (published  at  Haverhill,  Mas- 
sachusetts in  1825),  "The  New  York  Reader,"  No.  3  (published 
in  New  York  in  1828),  and  the  McGuffey  series  of  readers 
were  the  most  widely  used. 

The  ambition  of  all  so-called  "readers"  of  the  period  was  to 
assist  young  people  to  read  with  propriety  and  effect,  to  improve 
their  language  and  their  sentiments,  "and  to  inculcate  some 
of  the  most  important  principles  of  piety  and  virtue."  Purity, 
propriety,  and  elegance  of  diction  frequently  characterized  many 
of  the  selections  chosen  for  some  of  the  readers  in  use.  The 
contents  usually  included  narrative  selections,  didactic  pieces, 
argumentative  selections,  descriptive  selections,  pathetic  pieces, 
dialogues,  and  public  speeches.  "The  New  York  Reader,"  No.  3, 
contained  selections  from  the  Proverbs,  the  Psalms,  Hume  "On 
History,"  select  sentences  concerning  "God  and  his  attributes," 
the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel,  the  story  of  Job,  and  Pope's  "  Univer- 
sal Prayer."  Some  of  the  readers  contained  instructions  on  the 
principles  of  good  reading,  treating  the  "proper  loudness  of  the 
voice,"  distinctiveness,  due  degree  of  slowness,  pronunciation, 
emphasis,  tones,  pauses,  and  the  proper  manner  of  reading  verse. 

Because  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  mathematics  was  held  as  a 
practical  science,  arithmetic  occupied  a  very  important  place  in 
the  curriculum  and,  as  in  other  subjects,  a  great  variety  of  texts 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  277 

were  in  use.  Among  those  most  frequently  reported  were  texts 
by  the  following  authors:  Adams,  Beattie,  Colburn,  Daboll, 
Davies,  Dilworth,  Emerson,  Fenn,  Fenning,  Fisher,  Fowler, 
Gough,  Jess,  Jones,  Niles,  Park,  Pike,  Ray,  Root,  Slocumb,  Smi- 
ley, Smith,  Stockton,  Tower,  Walkingham,  Walsh,  Webster,  and 
Willard.  Of  these  books  Colburn's  "First  Lesson  in  Intel- 
lectual Arithmetic"  (which  appeared  in  1821),  Thomas  Dil- 
worth's  "The  Schoolmaster's  Assistant"  (which  appeared  earlier), 
and  the  work  of  Pike  and  of  Jess  (earlier  still)  were  most  exten- 
sively used  in  the  South  during  the  ante-bellum  period. 

Colburn's  "First  Lessons  in  Intellectual  Arithmetic"  possessed 
a  merit  not  always  found  in  many  texts  of  the  time.  The  book 
was  the  result  of  practical  work  which  the  author  had  done  as  a 
teacher  of  mathematics,  and  had  been  tested  in  actual  use  before 
publication.  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education  said 
in  1856  that  the  book  "enjoyed  a  more  enviable  success  than 
any  other  schoolbook  ever  published.  ...  It  has  been  said  to  be 
'the  only  faultless  schoolbook  that  we  have.'  It  has  certainly 
wrought  a  great  change  in  the  manner  of  teaching  arithmetic." 
Dilworth 's  "The  Schoolmaster's  Assistant"  appeared  much 
earlier  than  Colburn's  arithmetic  and  went  hurriedly  through 
many  editions.  Two  other  arithmetics,  however,  were  even  more 
popular  than  Colburn's  and  Dilworth's.  These  were  "A  New  and 
Complete  System  of  Arithmetic,"  by  Nicholas  Pike,  and  "  The 
American  Tutor's  Assistant,"  by  Zachariah  Jess. 

The  work  of  Pike,  first  published  in  1788,  was  the  first  book 
of  "its  kind  composed  in  America."  It  was  very  comprehensive 
and  exhaustive,  became  popular  immediately,  and  went  through 
many  editions.  It  was  very  widely  used  in  the  South.  In  1840 
the  book  was  reported  in  use  in  half  the  counties  of  Virginia,  and 
about  the  same  time  a  book  store  in  Raleigh  advertised  that  one 
hundred  copies  had  just  been  received  for  sale. 

The  comprehensive  character  of  the  book  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  partial  list  of  subjects  which  were  treated  in  it,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  arithmetic  processes :  extraction  of  the  biquadrate 


278          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

root;  pensions  in  arrears  at  simple  interest;  barter,  alligation 
medial ;  pendulums ;  a  perpetual  almanac ;  the  time  of  the  moon's 
southing ;  how  to  find  the  year  of  indiction ;  how  to  find  the  value 
of  gold  in  the  currency  of  New  England  and  of  Virginia ;  a  table  of 
values  of  the  sundry  pieces  in  the  several  States;  comparisons 
of  the  American  foot  with  the  foot  of  other  countries ;  table  of  the 
dominical  letters  according  to  the  cycle  of  the  sun ;  to  find  the 
dominical  letter  according  to  the  Julian  and  Gregorian  methods ; 
a  table  by  which  Easter  could  be  calculated  from  the  year  1753 
to  4199;  plane  geometry;  " plane  rectangular  trigonometry"; 
"  oblique  angular  trigonometry " ;  algebra ;  conic  sections ;  and, 
finally,  "the  proportions  and  tonnage  of  Noah's  ark."  Some  of 
the  exercises  of  the  student  were  of  riddlelike  character: 

How  many  barley-corns  will  reach  from  Newburyport  to  Boston,  it 
being  forty-three  miles  ? 

How  many  days  since  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era  ? 

How  many  minutes  since  the  commencement  of  the  American  War, 
which  happened  on  April  19,  1775? 

How  many  seconds  since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  April  19, 
1775,  and  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  which 
took  place  July  4,  1776? 

A  bullet  is  dropped  from  the  top  of  a  building,  and  is  found  to 
reach  the  ground  in  if  seconds ;  required  its  height. 

In  what  time  will  a  musket-ball,  dropped  from  the  top  of  a  steeple 
484  feet  high,  come  to  the  ground? 

Nine  gentlemen  sat  at  an  inn,  and  were  so  pleased  with  their  host, 
and  with  each  other,  that,  in  a  frolic,  they  agreed  to  tarry  as  long  as 
they,  together  with  their  host,  could  sit  every  day  in  a  different  posi- 
tion ;  pray  how  long,  had  they  kept  their  agreement,  would  their  frolic 
have  lasted?  Answer  994i||f  days. 

A  gentleman  making  his  addresses  in  a  lady's  family,  who  had  five 
daughters :  She  told  him  that  their  father  had  made  a  will,  which 
imported  that  the  first  four  of  the  girls'  fortunes  were  together  to 
make  £50,000,  the  last  four  £66,000,  the  three  last  with  the  first 
£60,000,  the  three  first  with  the  last  £56,000,  and  the  two  first  with 
two  last,  £64,000,  which,  if  he  would  unravel,  and  make  it  appear 
what  each  was  to  have,  as  he  appeared  to  have  a  partiality  for 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  279 

Harriet,  her  third  daughter,  he  should  be  welcome  to  her :  pray,  what 
was  Miss  Harriet's  fortune?    Answer,  £10,000. 

An  ignorant  fop  wanted  to  purchase  an  elegant  house;  a  facetious 
gentleman  told  him  he  had  one  which  he  would  sell  him  on  these  mod- 
erate terms,  viz.  that  he  should  give  him  a  penny  for  the  first  door,  2  d 
for  the  second,  4d  for  the  third,  and  so  on,  doubling  at  every  door, 
which  were  36  in  all :  It  is  a  bargain,  cried  the  simpleton,  and  here  is  a 
guinea  to  bind  it ;  pray  what  would  the  house  have  cost  him  ?  Answer, 
£286,331,153,  is,  3d. 

Jess's  work,  which  first  appeared  in  1798,  was  also  popular  in 
the  Southern  States,  was  widely  circulated  there  and  had  a  long 
career.  Among  the  subjects  found  in  the  work  were  numeration, 
addition,  subtraction,  multiplication,  and  division  of  integers; 
compound  addition;  compound  addition,  subtraction,  multipli- 
cation, and  division  of  Federal  money;  single  rule  of  three  and 
double  rule  of  three;  simple  interest  and  compound  interest; 
practice;  decimal  fractions;  tare  and  tret,  equation,  barter,  loss 
and  gain,  and  fellowship  exchange;  vulgar  fractions;  single 
and  double  rule  of  three  in  vulgar  fractions ;  square  root ;  cube 
root ;  discount ;  annuities,  and  annuities  in  reversion ;  perpetuities, 
and  perpetuities  in  reversion ;  and,  finally,  there  was  a  collection 
of  "promiscuous  questions."  Some  of  the  problems  set  for  the 
pupils  were  as  follows : 

A  Virginia  merchant  sent  goods  to  Norway  worth  2743  dol.  80  cts. 
currency ;  how  many  rix  dollars,  at  80  cts.  each,  must  he  receive  ? 

A  merchant  of  North  Carolina  shipped  a  quantity  of  flour,  which 
when  disposed  of,  amounted  to  1186  millreas,  500  reas;  and  received 
in  return  1 7  pipes  of  wine ;  what  was  it  per  pipe,  a  millrea  reckoned 
at  i  dol.  ? 

When  first  the  marriage  knot  was  ty'd 

Between  my  wife  and  me ; 

My  age  was  to  that  of  my  bride, 

As  three  times  three  to  three ; 

But  now  when  ten  and  half  ten  years, 

We  man  and  wife  have  been, 

Her  age  to  mine  exactly  bears 

As  eight  is  to  sixteen ; 


28o          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Now  tell,  I  pray,  from  what  I've  said, 
What  were  our  ages  when  we  wed? 

C  Thy  age,  when  married,  must  have  been 
Answer  •{   T    .   £    .     *.  -t  >    tit,. 

\  Just  forty-five ;  thy  wife  s  fifteen. 

What  difference  is  there  between  6  dozen  dozen,  and  half  a  dozen 
dozen?  Answer,  792. 

How  may  4  nines  be  placed  so  as  to  denote  exactly  100  ?  Answer,  99!. 

What  is  the  compound  interest  of  one  farthing,  at  5  per  cent,  per 
annum,  from  the  Christian  era  to  the  end  of  the  year  1790?  Answer, 
upward  of  88424000000000000000000000000  millions  of  pounds. 


The  monopoly  of  the  curriculum  by  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic prevented  geography  from  early  acquiring  the  high  position 
which  it  now  occupies  in  the  course  of  study  of  the  elementary 
school.  Even  the  higher  schools  neglected  it  as  a  separate  study 
until  the  nineteenth  century,  and  its  value  as  an  agency  for  vital- 
izing other  related  subjects  was  not  early  recognized.  When  it 
first  appeared  in  the  lower  schools  it  was  not  treated  as  a  separate 
subject  nor  was  it  intended,  as  it  is  today,  to  impart  a  knowledge 
of  world  movements,  of  current  events,  or  of  the  economic  and 
commercial  relations  of  man.  The  little  geographical  information 
that  was  taught  was  given  largely  as  a  memory  exercise,  and  the 
possession  of  geographical  facts  was  considered  an  achievement 
equal  to  the  ability  to  "do  sums"  rapidly  or  to  "flourish  cork- 
screws" in  writing.  Books  on  the  subject  of  geography  served  as 
readers  rather  than  as  texts  on  the  subject  of  the  earth  as  the 
home  of  man.  Frequently,  however,  geographies  were  used  in  the 
capacity  of  both  readers  and  histories,  and  not  a  few  of  the  texts 
in  use  in  ante-bellum  days  could  have  served  one  purpose  quite 
as  well  as  another.  There  is  evidence  also  that  the  early  books  on 
geography  were  intended  to  furnish  moral  instruction. 

As  readers  and  as  histories  a  great  many  texts  on  geography 
were  in  use  in  the  South  as  in  other  sections  of  the  country  before 
the  war.  Books  by  the  following  authors  seem  to  have  been 
most  widely  used:  Adams,  Carey,  Cummings,  Frazer,  Guthrie, 
Huntingdon,  Monteith,  Moss,  Morse,  Olney,  "Peter  Parley," 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  281 

Smiley,  Smith,  Willett,  Willard,  and  Woodbridge.  Of  these  the 
works  of  Morse,  Olney,  and  "Peter  Parley"  seem  to  have  been 
most  popular  in  the  South. 

The  pioneer  American  geography  was  the  work  of  Jedidiah 
Morse,  who  published  his  first  book  on  the  subject  in  1784,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three.  "The  American  Universal  Geography," 
which  was  "a  view  of  the  present  state  of  all  the  empires,  king- 
doms, states,  and  republics  in  the  known  world,  and  of  the  United 
States  in  particular,"  appeared  in  1793  and  had  an  extensive 
circulation. 

In  the  preface  of  this  book  Morse  stated  that  Guthrie's  "Geo- 
graphical Grammar"  stood  highest  in  the  estimation  of  the  public 
of  any  work  on  geography  and  that  it  had  had  a  very  extensive  sale 
in  America.  With  all  its  merits,  however,  he  thought  that  work 
had  two  capital  faults :  it  was  deficient  and  false  in  its  descriptions 
of  the  United  States  and  gave  an  unwieldy  and  disproportionate 
account  to  Great  Britain.  Moreover,  Morse  thought  the  propriety 
of  importing  any  schoolbooks  from  England  very  questionable, 
as  the  American  people  ran  the  hazard  of  having  children  imbibe 
from  such  books  the  monarchial  ideas  and  the  national  prejudices 
of  the  English.  The  purpose  of  his  book  may  be  seen  in  the  fol- 
lowing, which  appeared  in  the  introduction : 

No  national  government  holds  out  to  its  subjects  so  many  alluring 
motives  to  obtain  an  accurate  knowledge  of  their  own  country,  and  of 
its  various  interests,  as  that  of  United  States.  By  the  freedom  of  our 
elections,  public  honors  and  public  offices  are  not  confined  to  any 
one  class  of  men,  but  are  offered  to  merit,  in  whatever  rank  it  may 
be  found.  To  discharge  the  duties  of  public  office  with  honor  and 
applause,  the  history,  policy,  commerce,  productions,  particular  advan- 
tages and  interests  of  the  several  States,  ought  to  be  thoroughly  under- 
stood. It  is  obviously  wise  and  prudent  then  to  initiate  our  -youth  in 
the  knowledge  of  these  things,  and  thus  to  form  their  minds  upon 
republican  principles,  and  prepare  them  for  further  usefulness  and 
honor.  There  is  no  science  better  adapted  to  the  capacities  of  youth, 
and  more  apt  to  captivate  their  attention  than  geography.  An  acquaint- 
ance with  this  science,  more  than  with  any  other,  satisfies  that  pertinent 


282  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

curiosity  which  is  the  predominating  feature  of  the  youthful  mind. 
It  is  to  be  lamented  that  this  part  of  education  has  been  so  long 
neglected  in  America.  Our  young  men  universally,  have  been  much 
better  acquainted  with  the  geography  of  Europe  and  Asia  than  with 
that  of  our  own  States  and  country.  The  want  of  suitable  books  on 
this  subject  has  been  the  cause,  ...  of  the  shameful  defect  in  our 
education.  Till  within  a  few  years,  we  have  seldom  pretended  to  write, 
and  hardly  to  think  for  ourselves.  We  have  humbly  received  from  Great 
Britain  our  laws,  our  manners,  our  books,  and  our  modes  of  thinking, 
and  our  youth  have  been  educated  rather  as  the  subjects  of  a  British 
king,  than  as  citizens  of  a  free  and  independent  republic.  But  the 
scene  is  now  changed.  The  revolution  has  been  favorable  to  science  in 
general;  particularly  to  that  of  the  geography  of  our  own  country. 
In  the  following  sheets  the  author  has  endeavored  to  bring  this  valuable 
branch  of  knowledge  home  to  the  common  schools,  and  to  the  cottage 
firesides.  ...  He  has  endeavored  to  accommodate  it  to  the  use  of  the 
schools,  as  a  reading  book,  that  our  youth  of  both  sexes,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  are  learning  to  read,  might  imbibe  an  acquaintance  with 
their  country,  and  an  attachment  to  its  interests ;  and,  in  that  forming 
period  of  their  lives,  begin  to  qualify  themselves  to  act  their  several 
parts  in  life,  with  reputation  to  themselves,  and  with  usefulness  to 
their  country. 


The  book  contained  treatments  of  astronomical  geography,  of 
the  several  astronomical  systems  of  the  world,  of  the  planets,  of 
the  solar  system,  of  the  comets,  of  the  fixed  stars,  of  the  earth, 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  sphere,  of  the  natural  divisions  of  the 
earth,  of  North  America,  Danish  America,  the  United  States  of 
America,  South  America,  West  India  Islands,  of  Europe,  of  Asia, 
of  Africa,  and  of  "new  discoveries."  Each  State  or  general 
division  of  the  United  States  was  discussed  separately,  in  a  man- 
ner not  altogether  unlike  that  of  modern  geographies,  special 
attention  being  given,  however,  to  such  subjects  as  religion, 
military  strength,  manners  and  social  customs,  literature,  educa- 
tional facilities,  curiosities,  constitution,  history,  and  several  other 
topics.  The  following  excerpts,  descriptive  of  certain  Southern 
States,  illustrate  one  interesting  feature  of  the  book: 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  283 

The  North  Carolinians  are  mostly  planters,  and  live  from  half  a 
mile  to  3  and  4  miles  from  each  other,  on  their  plantations.  They 
have  a  plentiful  country — no  ready  market  for  their  produce — little 
intercourse  with  strangers,  and  a  natural  fondness  for  society,  which 
induce  them  to  be  hospitable  to  travellers.  They  appear  to  have  little 
taste  for  the  sciences. 

In  the  flat  country  near  the  sea  coast  of  North  Carolina,  the  inhabit- 
ants during  the  summer  and  'autumn,  are  subject  to  intermittent 
fevers,  which  often  prove  fatal.  The  countenances  of  the  inhabitants 
during  these  seasons,  have  generally  a  pale  yellowish  cast,  occasioned 
by  the  prevalence  of  bilious  symptoms. 

The  general  topic  of  conversation  among  the  men,  when  cards,  the 
bottle,  and  occurrences  of  the  day  do  not  intervene,  are  negroes,  the 
price  of  indigo,  rice,  tobacco,  etc.  .  .  .  Political  inquiries,  and  philo- 
sophical disquisitions  are  attended  to  but  by  a  few  men  of  genius  and 
industry,  and  are  too  laborious  for  the  minds  of  the  people  at  large. 
.  .  .  Temperance  and  industry  are  not  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
virtues  of  the  North  Carolinians.  The  time  which  they  waste  in  drink- 
ing, idling  and  gambling,  leaves  them  very  little  opportunity  to  improve 
their  plantations  or  their  minds.  The  improvement  of  the  former  is 
left  to  their  overseers  and  negroes ;  the  improvement  of  the  latter  is 
too  often  neglected.  .  .  . 

We  are  told  that  a  strange  and  very  barbarous  practice  prevailed 
among  the  lower  class  of  people  before  the  Revolution  in  the  back 
parts  of  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia ;  it  was  called 
gouging,  and  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  man,  when  boxing, 
putting  out  the  eye  of  his  antagonist  with  his  thumb.  How  quick, 
under  a  mild  government,  is  the  reformation  of  manners!  We  have 
lately  been  told  that  in  a  particular  county,  where,  at  the  quarterly 
court  twenty  years  ago,  a  day  seldom  passed  without  ten  or  fifteen 
boxing  matches,  it  is  now  a  rare  thing  to  hear  of  a  fight. 

There  is  no  peculiarity  in  the  manners  of  .the  inhabitants  of  this 
State  [South  Carolina]  except  that  arises  from  the  mischievous  in- 
fluence of  slavery;  and  in  this,  indeed,  they  do  not  differ  from  the 
inhabitants  of  other  Southern  States.  .  .  .  The  Carolinians  sooner 
arrive  at  maturity,  both  in  their  bodies  and  minds,  than  the  natives 
of  cold  climates.  They  possess  a  natural  quickness  and  vivacity  of 
genius,  superior  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  North ;  but  too  generally 
want  that  enterprise  and  perseverance  which  are  necessary  for  the 
highest  attainments  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  .  .  .  There  are  not  a 


284  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

few  instances,  however,  in  this  State,  in  which  genius  has  been  united 
with  application,  and  the  effects  of  their  union  have  been  happily 
experienced,  not  only  by  this  State,  but  by  the  United  States.  .  .  . 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  spare  no  pains  nor  expense  in  giving  the 
highest  polish  of  education  to  their  children,  by  enabling  them  to 
travel,  and  by  other  means  attainable  to  those  who  have  but  moderate 
fortunes. 

The  book  also  treated  the  educational  and  literary  conditions 
in  the  various  States,  though  not  always  accurately.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  treatments  of  this  subject  was  the  account  of 
the  educational  legislation  which  Jefferson  proposed  for  Virginia 
in  1779,  concerning  which  Morse  said: 

The  excellent  measures  for  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge,  which 
the  forementioned  bill  proposes,  have  not  yet  been  carried  into  effect. 
And  it  will  be  happy  if  the  great  inequality  in  the  circumstances  of 
the  citizens — the  pride,  the  independence,  and  the  indolence  of  one 
class  and  the  poverty  and  depression  of  the  other — do  not  prove 
insuperable  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  universal  operations. 

The  geography  of  Jesse  Olney  was  also  widely  used  in  the  South 
prior  to  the  war.  In  1828  he  published  his  "Geography  and 
Atlas,"  which  passed  through  numerous  editions,  some  of  which 
numbered  eighty  thousand  copies.  This  book  and  others  by  the 
same  author  were  at  once  accepted  as  standard  works  on  the  sub- 
ject and  found  a  place  in  all  the  schools  of  the  country.  For 
forty  years  or  more  they  had  a  large  place  in  the  schools  of  the 
South.  Moreover,  they  helped  greatly  in  changing  the  purpose 
and  methods  of  teaching  geography.  Olney,  who  was  a  prac- 
tical teacher,  expressed  disapproval  of  many  of  the  geographies 
then  in  use,  which  "began  with  an  exposition  of  the  science 
of  astronomy,  and,  making  the  center  of  the  solar  system  the 
initial  point,  developed  the  scheme  until  it  finally  reached  the 
earth."  Largely  through  the  influence  of  Olney's  books  this 
method  was  reversed.  He  insisted  on  beginning  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  the  pupils  lived  and  on  making  "clear  by  lucid 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  285 

definitions  the  natural  divisions  of  land  and  water,  illustrating 
each  instance  by  the  use  of  maps."  He  sought  to  make  the  surface 
of  the  earth  familiar  to  the  child  by  using  as  much  concrete  and 
illustrative  material  as  possible.  Theoretic  geography  soon  gave 
place  to  the  modern  descriptive  science.  Olney  was,  therefore, 
one  of  the  first  teachers  in  this  country  to  adopt  the  Pestalozzian 
principles  in  the  teaching  of  the  subject  and  to  initiate  the  idea 
of  "home"  geography. 

In  the  introduction  to  his  "Practical  System  of  Modern  Geog- 
raphy" the  author  held  that  children  can  learn  geography  at  a 
very  early  age.  But  most  of  the  books  of  the  time,  he  states, 
began  with  definitions,  which,  to  be  understood,  required  a  degree 
of  knowledge  on  the  subject  never  possessed  by  the  beginner. 
Children  should  not  be  made  to  commit  definitions  to  memory, 
but  should  be  taught  "by  the  eye,"  through  the  use  of  maps, 
pictures,  and  diagrams.  "The  map  is  to  geography  what  orthog- 
raphy is  to  reading,"  and  the  child  must  not  only  understand 
its  use  but  must  have  an  intimate  knowledge  of  its  parts  before 
he  can  acquire  the  proper  understanding  of  the  subject.  The  map 
should,  therefore,  be  the  first  lesson  in  geography.  Moreover,  the 
author  said  that  instead  of  introducing  the  beginner  at  once 
to  astronomical  geography  he  should  begin  "with  the  town  in 
which  he  lives " ;  this  was  the  natural  as  well  as  the  "  philosoph- 
ical method"  of  teaching  the  subject.  On  all  subjects  "the  learner 
must  make  himself  master  of  simple  things  before  he  can  under- 
stand complex  ones." 

"Peter  Parley's"  "Method  of  Telling  about  Geography  to 
Children,"  which  was  written  almost  entirely  in  simple,  colloquial 
style,  was  also  popular  in  the  Southern  States.  In  this  book 
geographical  rimes  were  used.  Another  interesting  feature  of 
the  book  was  the  obvious  and  often  labored  attempts  to  teach 
lessons  of  morality  and  religion.  In  the  chapter  on  Asia  the 
following  account  of  the  flood  appeared: 

The  flood,  or  deluge,  took  place  about  1650  after  the  world  was 
created ;  that  is  more  than  4000  years  ago.  The  history  of  the  Jews, 


286  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

which  is  related  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  continued  from  the  time  of 
Noah  to  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  which  was  1829  years  ago.  The 
history  is  exceedingly  interesting,  and  is  perfectly  true.  The  early 
history  of  almost  all  other  nations  is  a  great  part  of  it  false ;  but  the 
Bible  tells  us  nothing  but  what  is  worthy  of  belief.  .  .  .  The  general 
lesson  to  be  learnt  from  the  Old  Testament  is  this :  that  God  has 
established  a  strict  connexion,  in  this  world,  between  obedience  to 
him  and  happiness ;  and  between  disobedience  and  unhappiness.  If  you 
will  carefully  read  the  Old  Testament  you  will  find  that  while  an 
individual,  or  a  people,  or  a  nation  obeyed  and  served  God,  they  were 
happy.  When  they  departed  from  his  laws  and  became  wicked  and 
disobedient,  then  they  became  miserable.  The  same  thing  is  true  now. 
Wicked  nations  and  wicked  peoples  soon  become  unhappy  while  the 
good  and  virtuous  generally  live  in  peace.  Such,  the  Bible  teaches  us, 
was  the  course  of  things  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world;  such  it  is 
now;  and  such,  doubtless,  it  will  ever  be. 

The  next  chapter  told  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  who  came  "to  dissi- 
pate this  darkness  which  had  gathered  over  the  minds  of  men.  .  .  . 
Let  us  never,  never,  forget  to  hold  in  deep  reverence  the  name  of 
the  one  who  has  been  such  a  benefactor  to  the  world.  .  .  .  Let  us 
not  only  hold  his  mind  in  reverence,  but  let  us  cherish  his  doctrines 
in  our  hearts,  and  let  us,  as  far  as  we  may,  copy  his  life  and  follow 
his  example."  In  the  concluding  chapter  the  final  sentences  are : 
"Let  us  fear  to  do  wrong,  because  God  can  punish  us.  Let  us  love 
to  do  right,  because  God  will  reward  us." 

History  also  found  a  very  late  place  in  the  elementary  school, 
largely  because  the  higher  institutions  were  tardy  in  recogniz- 
ing its  value  in  the  course  of  study.  Before  1850  the  larger 
colleges  of  the  country  provided  for  instruction  in  history  in 
connection  with  other  subjects,  usually  philosophy  and  English, 
and  when  the  subject  first  appeared  in  the  lower  schools  it  was 
used  largely  as  reading  material.  Its  value  as  a  means  of  fur- 
nishing a  broad  interpretation  of  the  world  was  not  recognized, 
nor  was  it  believed  that  history  was  capable  of  making  direct 
appeal  to  human  interests,  to  curiosity,  to  the  imagination,  or 
capable  of  developing  enlightened  patriotism  or  of  strengthening 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  287 

intellectual  habits.  Many  of  the  early  texts  contained  neither 
maps  nor  illustrations.  The  function  of  early  history-teaching 
was  conceived  as  ethical  and  religious,  though  the  methods  used 
were  often  unsound  for  these  purposes. 

The  books  on  historical  subjects  most  frequently  reported  in 
use  in  the  schools  of  the  South  before  the  war  were  the  works 
of  Adams,  Frost,  Goldsmith,  Goodrich  ("Peter  Parley"),  Grim- 
shaw,  Guernsey,  Hale,  Jesse,  Millot,  Pitkin,  Pinnock,  Webster, 
Willard,  and  Worcester.  Ancient,  medieval,  European,  universal, 
general,  and  ecclesiastical  were  adjectives  which  usually  described 
the  texts  in  use.  Most  of  these  books  were  often  the  merest  out- 
lines, and  this  outline  plan  characterized  many  of  the  texts  on  the 
subject  until  near  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Moreover, 
teachers  were  poorly  prepared  to  teach  history,  and  there  was 
but  little  to  recommend  a  place  for  it  in  the  schools.  Today  a 
thoroughly  prepared  teacher  is  regarded  as  the  first  condition  to 
adequate  history-teaching;  and  his  qualifications  include  almost 
encyclopedic  information,  more  or  less  practice  in  the  use  of 
historical  evidence,  the  historical  attitude,  or  fair-mindedness  in 
handling  historical  material,  and  skill  in  narration  and  in  properly 
marshaling  historical  facts.  But  poor  texts,  poorly  trained 
teachers,  and  classrooms  so  inadequately  equipped  as  never  to 
suggest  the  subject  were  not  likely  to  lead  pupils  to  study  history 
or  to  acquire  the  wholesome  habit  of  reading  historical  material. 
And  all  these  conditions  prevailed  in  the  ante-bellum  days  and 
even  later. 

As  late  as  1821  the  preface  to  one  of  the  earliest  books  on 
history  stated  that  "while  our  schools  abound  with  a  variety  of 
reading-books  for  children  and  youth,  there  has  never  yet  ap- 
peared a  compendious  history  of  the  United  States  fitted  for  our 
common  schools."  The  following  year  Goodrich's  "History  of 
the  United  States  "  appeared,  and  while  this  text  was  popular  and 
widely  circulated,  it  too  was  deficient  in  illustrative  material  and 
continued  so  until  1832,  although  numerous  editions  of  the  work 
appeared  in  the  meantime.  In  that  year  an  improvement  was 


288  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

made  in  the  book.  In  the  same  year  Noah  Webster  published  a 
"History  of  the  United  States,"  in  which  he  discussed,  among 
other  things,  "our  English  ancestry  from  the  dispersion  at  Babel, 
to  their  migration  to  America."  The  work  did  not  go  beyond  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  because  "an  impartial  history 
cannot  be  published  during  the  lives  of  the  principal  persons  con- 
cerned in  the  transactions  related,  without  being  exposed  to  the 
charge  of  undue  flattery  or  censure ;  and  unless  history  is  impar- 
tial, it  misleads  the  student,  and  frustrates  its  proper  object."  A 
chapter  on  "  Advice  to  the  Young,"  intended  to  "  serve,  in  a  degree, 
to  restrain  some  of  the  common  vices  of  our  country,"  showed  that 
one  important  function  of  history,  as  of  other  subjects,  was  moral 
and  religious. 

Grammar  was  not  required  in  the  ante-bellum  schools  of  the 
South,  the  teachers  were  not  examined  on  it,  and  the  subject  was 
therefore  not  widely  taught.  Textbooks  on  grammar  did  not,  like 
geographies  and  histories,  serve  well  as  readers,  and  for  this  reason 
the  subject  was  somewhat  late  in  finding  a  place  in  the  curriculum. 
The  early  texts  were  unduly  intricate  and  difficult  to  explain  or  to 
understand,  and  the  subject  was  regarded  as  meaningless  and 
dreary.  The  prefaces  of  many  of  the  early  works  were  often 
apologetic  and  deplored  the  general  lack  of  interest  in  it.  Occasion- 
ally, however,  county  officials  reported  a  few  "grammar  and 
geography  pupils"  in  some  of  their  schools,  but  for  the  few  who 
were  studying  the  subject  numerous  texts  were  reported.  Among 
these  were  works  by  Ashe,  BinghanT,  Boardman,  Brown,  Bullion, 
Comly,  Frost,  Greenleaf,  Harrison,  Kurd,  Ingersol,  Jandon,  John- 
ston, Kirkman,  Lowth,  Murray,  Merton,  Olney,  Sanford,  Scott, 
Smith,  Tower,  and  Webster.  The  works  of  Murray  and  of 
Kirkman  seem  to  have  been  the  most  generally  used  in  the  South, 
though  grammars  by  Bingham  and  Webster  were  also  widely  used 
for  a  time. 

Lindley  Murray,  who  is  known  as  "  the  father  of  English  gram- 
mar," published  his  first  book  on  grammar  in  1795  while  he  was  in 
England,  where  he  had  gone  from  New  York  in  search  of  health. 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  289 

The  book  became  popular  immediately  not  only  in  England  but 
in  America,  where  it  was  so  extensively  circulated  that  Murray's 
name  soon  came  to  be  a  household  word.  Although  it  was  a  work 
of  considerable  merit  for  the  time  the  book  was  severely  criticized 
"for  its  obscurity,  blunders,  and  deficient  presentation  of  ety- 
mology." One  of  Murray's  friends  said  to  him,  "Of  all  the  con- 
trivances invented  for  puzzling  the  brain  of  the  young,  your 
grammar  is  the  worst."  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  Murray's 
"Grammar,"  "Exercises,"  and  "Key"  came  to  be  regarded  as 
standard  texts,  and  they  maintained  that  position  for  many  years. 
Half  the  counties  of  Virginia  in  1840  reported  Murray's  work  hi 
use,  and  about  the  same  time  a  bookstore  in  Raleigh  advertised 
seven  hundred  copies  of  "  Murray's  English  Grammar,  well  bound 
in  leather  and  offered  at  a  very  reduced  price."  The  book  went 
through  fifty  editions,  and  an  abridgment  of  the  original  work 
had  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  editions  of  ten  thousand 
copies  each.  The  primary  purpose  of  this  work  was  to  teach  the 
correct  use  of  spoken  and  written  language  and  to  assist  the  more 
advanced  pupils  "to  write  with  perspicuity  and  accuracy,"  but 
an  obvious  design  of  the  book,  as  of  many  grammars  of  the  period, 
was  to  furnish  moral  instruction,  which  was  sought  through  the 
examples  and  exercises  in  the  illustration  of  principles  and  rules. 
Kirkman's  "English  Grammar,"  followed  Murray's  very  closely 
in  plan,  but  avoided  some  of  the  errors  which  the  latter  work 
contained.  Kirkman's  illustrations  \yere  apt  and  valuable  in  that 
they  lent  themselves  to  clearness  and  comprehension  of  the 
principles  illustrated.  The  book  sought  to  be  "  of  practical  utility 
in  facilitating"  the  mental  progress  of  youth,  but  it  presented  no 
attractive  graces  of  style  to  charm,  no  "daring  flights"  to  aston- 
ish, and  no  deep  researches  to  gratify  the  literary  connoisseur.  It 
undertook,  on  the  other  hand,  to  make  interesting  and  delightful  a 
study  which  was  regarded  as  tedious, dry,  and  irksome.  In  "Hints 
to  teachers  and  private  learners"  the  author  said  that  he  hoped 
to  help  abolish  the  absurd  practice  of  causing  learners  to  com- 
mit and  recite  definitions  and  rules  "without  any  simultaneous 


2QO  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

application  of  them  to  practical  examples."  The  final  instruc- 
tions to  the  young  learner  were :  "  Become  learned  and  virtuous, 
and  you  will  be  great.  Love  God  and  serve  him,  and  you  will  be 
happy." 

In  the  main  the  book  sought  to  teach  the  pupils  what  they 
should  not  say  rather  than  what  they  should  say  in  speaking 
and  writing.  In  one  column  appeared  "improper"  and  in  another 
the  "correct"  words,  thus: 

aint  are  not 

haint  have  not 

taint  'tis  not 

baint  are  not 

maint  may  not 

waunt  was  not 

woodent  would  not 

mussent  must  not 

izzent  is  not 

wozzent  was  not 

hezzent  has  not 

doozzent  does  not 

tizzent  'tis  not 

whool  who  will 

Among  the  numerous  provincialisms  and  vulgarisms  which 
Kirkman  said  were  common  in  the  spoken  language  in  New 
England  and  New  York  were  the  following: 

I  be  goin.   He  lives  to  hum.  I  am  going.   He  lives  at  home. 

Hese    been    to    hum    this    two  He  has  been  at  home  these  two 

weeks.  weeks. 

You  haddent  ought  to  do  it.  You  ought  not  to  do  it. 

Yes  I  had  ought.  Certainly  I  ought. 

Taint  no  better  than  hizzen.  'Tis   no  better  than  his. 

Izzent  that  are  line  writ  well?  Is  not  that  line  well  written? 

The  following  errors  were  reported  as  common  in  Pennsylvania : 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  291 

I  seen  him.  Have  you  saw  him  ?  Vest,  I  have  saw  him  wunst ;  and 
that  was  before  you  seed  him.  I  done  my  task.  Have  you  did  yours  ? 
No,  but  I  be  to  do  it.  I  be  to  be  there.  He  know'd  me.  Leave  me  be, 
for  Ime  af ear'd.  I  wish  I  haddent  did  it ;  howsumever,  I  don't  keer ; 
they  cant  skeer  me.  Give  me  them  there  books.  He  ort  to  go;  so 
he  ort.  I  diddent  go  to  do  it.  Don't  scrouge  me.  I  know'd  what  he 
meant,  but  I  never  let  on. 

The  following  expressions  were  mentioned,  with  their  corrections, 
as  belonging  to  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Mississippi : 

Tote  the  wood  to  the  river.  Have  you  focht  the  water?  Carry  the 
horse  to  water.  He  has  run  aginst  a  snag.  Is  that  your  plunder, 
stranger?  I  war  thar,  and  I  seen  his  boat  was  loaded  too  heavy. 
Whar  you  gwine  ?  Hese  in  cahoot  with  me.  Did  you  get  shet  of  your 
tobacca?  Who  hoped  you  sell  it? 

In  concluding  this  brief  account  of  textbooks  it  should  be 
noted  that  near  the  close  of  the  ante-bellum  period  frequent  com- 
plaints began  to  be  heard  against  books  which  had  been  prepared 
and  published  in  the  North.  The  complaints  were  loudest  against 
the  books  used  as  readers.  As  early  as  January,  1844,  the  South- 
ern Educational  Journal,  which  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
educational  magazine  published  in  Alabama,  advertised  a  series  of 
readers  which  "have  been  carefully  revised  and  freed  from  all 
objectionable  pieces."  The  objection  to  the  readers  then  in  use 
was  that  they  were  "made  by  people  whose  political  institu- 
tions differ  from  ours,  and  thrown  upon  the  children  of  the 
South,  for  their  discriminating  minds  to  peruse."  At  a  meeting 
of  the  Southern  Commercial  Convention,  held  in  Savannah  in 
December,  1856,  and  composed  of  delegates  from  the  Southern 
and  Southwestern  States,  a  committee  was  requested  to  take  the 
subject  of  schoolbooks  under  consideration  and  to  select  and  pre- 
pare a  suitable  series  of  books  in  "every  department  of  study, 
from  the  earliest  primer  to  the  highest  grade  of  literature  and 
science,  as  shall  seem  to  them  best  qualified  to  elevate  and  purify 
the  education  of  the  South."  In  this  action  appeared  evidence  of 


292  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  growing  sectionalism  of  the  period.  The  feeling  was  that  "We 
can,  and  we  must  print,  publish,  and  teach  our  own  books;  we 
must  not  permit  our  foes  to  compose  our  songs  and  prepare  our 
nursery  tales,  reserving  for  ourselves  only  the  privilege  of  fram- 
ing husky  statutes,  and  holding  commercial  conventions."1  From 
that  time  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  efforts  were  increased 
in  the  South  to  prepare  the  texts  used  in  that  region  and  to 
encourage  Southern  publishing  enterprises.  And  during  the  war 
the  Southern  States  did  all  they  could  to  supply  their  own  books, 
though  the  undertaking  was  not  always  successful. 

Scribbling  on  the  flyleaves  of  the  books  was  an  interesting 
juvenile  practice  then,  as  now,  and  was  common  in  all  sections  of 
the  country.  The  children  did  not  confine  their  writing  and 
their  scribbling  to  slates  and  copybooks.  The  following  are  ex- 
amples of  flyleaf  scribblings  which  had  wide  currency:2 

If  this  book  should  chance  to  roam 
Box  its  ears  and  send  it  home. 

Steal  not  this  book,  for  if  you  do, 
Tom  Harris  will  be  after  you. 

Steal  not  this  book  for  fear  of  strife 
For  the  owner  carries  a  big  jackknife. 

Steal  not  this  book  my  honest  friend 
for  fear  the  gallos  will  be  your  end 
The  gallos  is  high,  the  rope  is  strong, 
To  steal  this  book  you  know  is  wrong. 

Let  every  Jerking  thief  be  taught, 
This  maxim  always  sure, 
That  learning  is  much  better  bought 
Than  stolen  from  the  poor. 
Then  steel  not  this  book. 

*De  Bow's  Review,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  100, 105,312. 

2  See  Johnson,  Old-time  Schools  and  Schoolbooks,  for  other  examples  of 
this  practice. 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  293 

Whosoever  steals  this 
Book  away  may 
Think  on  that  great 
judgement  day  when 
Jesus  Christ  shall 
come  and  say 
Where  is  that  book  you 
stole  away. 
Then  you  will  say 
I  do  not  know 
and  Christ  will  say 
go  down  below. 

William  Graham  his  Book 

God  grant  him  grace  therein  to  look, 

that  he  may  run  that  blessed  race 

that  heaven  may  be  his  dwelling  Place. 

This  Book  was  bought  for  good  Intent 
pray  bring  it  home  when  it  is  lent. 

Francis  Barton 
is  my  name  america 
is  my  nation 
pitsfield  is  my 
dweling  place 
and  christ  is  my 
salvation  when 
i  am  dead  and 
in  my  grave  and 
all  my  bones  are 
rotton  its  youl 
remember  me  or  else 
i  will  be  forgotten. 

If  there  should  be  another  flood, 
Then  to  this  book  I'd  fly ; 
If  all  the  earth  should  be  submerged 
This  book  would  still  be  dry. 


294  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Incompetent  teachers,  wasteful  methods  of  teaching,  harsh 
discipline,  poor  physical  equipment,  crude  methods  of  adminis- 
tration, and  lack  of  organization  and  of  professional  supervision 
were  among  the  defects  of  the  public  schools  of  the  ante- 
bellum period.  This  was  before  normal  training  had  gained  a 
place  in  this  country,  and  professionally  trained  teachers  and 
school  officers  were  unknown.  Here  and  there  was  found  a  man 
of  culture,  refinement,  intelligence,  and  teaching  skill,  but  these 
qualities  were  often  lacking  in  most  of  the  teachers  of  the  time. 
As  a  rule  the  occupation  of  teaching  was  not  held  in  high  esteem. 

Many  of  the  teachers  were  of  the  adventuresome  type,  migra- 
tory, odd  in  habits,  and  frequently  questionable  in  conduct.  Too 
often  they  had  little  if  any  training  beyond  that  which  they  had 
received  in  schools  of  no  higher  grade  than  those  in  which  they 
themselves  taught.  As  a  class  they  were  generally  loose  and  often 
immoral  and  lacking  in  professional  standards.  They  were  not 
only  unable  to  inspire  confidence  in  schools  but  doubtless  served 
to  bring  education  into  public  contempt  and  thus  to  retard  its 
growth.  Examinations  for  license  or  certificate  to  teach,  when 
required  at  all,  were  usually  oral  and  nominal  and  never  pre- 
tended to  be  more  than  an  attempt  to  pass  on  the  applicant's 
moral  character  and  his  ability  to  conduct  a  school.  And  for 
these  "adventure"  and  wandering  teachers  the  minimum  require- 
ments in  these  respects  were  not  difficult  to  meet.  Ability  to 
teach  meant  primarily  the  ability  to  maintain  order  in  school, 
and  high  moral  and  intellectual  standards  were  not  often  de- 
manded or  expected.  Moreover,  the  local  school  officials  or  dis- 
trict trustees  had  to  employ  teachers  who  were  available.  The 
need  for  an  adequate  supply  of  well-qualified  teachers  was  rela- 
tively as  great  then  as  now,  though  it  was  not  so  keenly  felt. 
Short  terms,  poor  wages,  the  practice  of  "boarding  around,"  and 
other  factors  kept  out  the  best  and  let  in  the  poorest  abilities  for 
successful  school  work.  The  following  letter,  which  appeared  hi 
a  Virginia  newspaper  in  1843,  bears  on  the  point:1 

1Maddox,  The  Free  School  Idea  in  Virginia  before  the  Civil  War,  p.  109. 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  295 

Good  men  deem  it  disreputable ;  think  it  too  laborious ;  or  that  it 
pays  too  little ;  other  men  stay  in  it,  because  they  can  do  nothing  else ; 
they  outbid  good  teachers ;  they  have  some  physical  misfortune ;  and 
parents  have  to  send  their  children  to  somebody  to  get  rid  of  them. 
...  In  the  schoolhouse  .  .  .  there  is  often  installed  a  man  with  a 
heart  of  stone  and  hands  of  iron ;  too  lazy  to  work,  too  ignorant  to 
live  by  his  wits  in  any  other  way,  whose  chief  recommendation  is  his 
cheapness  and  whose  chief  capacity  to  instruct  is  predicated  by  his 
incapacity  for  other  employment.  ...  Of  the  progress  of  the  pupils 
in  these  temples  of  indolence  but  little  inquiry  is  made. 


In  their  messages  to  the  Legislatures  the  governors  often 
referred  to  the  poor  condition  of  public  education  in  their  States 
and  very  frequently  described  the  practices  of  the  time.  In  1840 
Governor  Henagan,  in  his  message  to  the  Legislature  of  South 
Carolina,  had  the  following  to  say  about  teaching  and  teachers: 

It  is  all  important  to  elevate  the  character  of  the  teachers  in  our 
free  schools.  The  relation  between  teacher  and  pupil  is  of  a  most 
responsible  nature,  and  involves  all  that  importance  which  belongs  to 
authority  on  the  one  side  and  submission  on  the  other.  In  addition  to 
literary  qualifications,  no  one,  if  possible,  should  control  the  education 
of  the  youth  of  our  State  who  is  deficient  in  moral  character.  Who,  I 
would  ask,  are  the  teachers  of  our  free  schools?  Are  they  men  to 
whom  the  Legislature  can  commit,  with  confidence,  the  great  business 
of  education  ?  What  is  the  amount  of  their  literary  qualifications,  and 
what  the  tone  of  their  morality  ?  It  is  not  my  design  to  indulge  in 
unnecessary  remarks  upon  this  subject,  but  truth  requires  me  to  say, 
that  as  a  class  they  are  grossly  incompetent  to  discharge  their  high 
and  sacred  functions.  So  far  as  my  observation  extends,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  they  are  very  ignorant,  and  possess  a  very  easy  morality. 
With  the  poor  pay  allowed  them,  we  cannot  reasonably  calculate  upon 
a  better  state  of  things.  The  men  who  take  charge  of  our  public 
schools,  and  accept  so  miserable  a  pittance  as  the  reward  of  their 
labors,  are  they  who  cannot  get  employment  on  any  other  terms. 
Necessity  forces  them  to  make  the  offer  of  their  services,  and  neces- 
sity forces  the  commissioners  to  accept  them.  It  is  now  in  South 
Carolina  a  reproach  to  be  a  teacher  of  a  free  school,  as  it  is  regarded 
as  prima  facie  evidence  of  a  want  of  qualification.  Men  will  not 


296  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

embark  in  the  business  of  education  from  mere  motives  of  patriotism. 
You  cannot  command  superior  talent  and  attainment,  without  adequate 
compensation.  The  lawyer,  the  physician,  and  the  artisan,  bestow  not 
their  labors  gratuitously ;  and  upon  what  principle  of  reason  or  justice 
can  it  be  expected,  that  he  who  has  qualified  himself,  by  years  of 
severe  toil  for  the  most  useful  of  all  professions,  shall  labor  at  a  rate 
which  will  not  supply  the  wants  of  nature  ?  .  .  . 

Methods  of  teaching  were  wasteful  and  ineffective.  The  pupils 
were  not  graded  into  groups  of  similar  ages  and  abilities,  and  in- 
struction was  therefore  almost  entirely  individual.  This  was  made 
necessary  by  the  great  variety  of  texts  in  the  same  subject,  by  the 
absence  of  helpful  equipment  (such  as  blackboards,  which  were 
late  to  appear  in  the  South),  and  by  ignorance  of  the  value  or 
possible  use  of  group  instruction.  The  teacher's  time  was  given 
almost  entirely  to  hearing  lessons.  The  pupils  received  no  in- 
struction from  the  teacher  nor  did  they  have  the  advantages  that 
come  from  the  group  discussion  in  the  modern  school.  The  time  of 
the  pupils  was  thus  largely  wasted.  School  exercises  were  loose 
and  slipshod  and  encouraged  idleness  and  inattention.  Studying 
or  learning  in  the  school  was  a  passive  process  of  the  individual 
rather  than  an  active  social  process  of  the  group.  In  many  cases 
the  schools  were  known  as  "noisy  schools"  because  the  children 
studied  their  lessons  aloud.  Discipline  was  harsh  and  often 
cruel,  and  the  routine  was  marked  by  multitudes  of  rules  and 
penalties  and  the  frequent  use  of  the  dunce  blocks  and  foolscaps. 
The  following  editorials,  which  appeared  in  Virginia  newspapers 
during  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  are  interest- 
ing reflections  on  practices  of  the  time : x 

What  are  the  beatitudes  of  a  scholastic  paradise?  To  be  fagged, 
flogged,  thumped,  and  coerced  to  mental  labor  and  constrained  in 
personal  liberty.  This  may  be  all  very  proper  and  salutary  (so  is 
physic)  but  it  is  not  happiness,  and  there  is  very,  very  rarely  an 
instance  of  a  boy,  while  he  is  in  one  of  these  prisons  of  the  body, 

iMaddox,  The  Free  School  Idea  in  Virginia  before  the  Civil  War, 
pp.  114,  115. 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  297 

and  treadmills  of  the  mind,  who  is  not  always  wishing  to  get  out  of 
school  and  to  get  home. 

The  memory  of  the  pupil  is  burdened  beyond  what  the  understand- 
ing apprehends — a  useless  storing  up  of  unmeaning  facts.  All  the  in- 
tellectual powers  should  be  exercised,  strengthened,  and  improved  in 
harmony.  There  is  too  little  effort  made  to  excite  a  spirit  of  inquiry 
and  to  arouse  the  energies  of  the  mind;  everything  now  proceeds  on 
dull  routine  which  gives  the  pupil  a  distaste  for  school  and  makes  him 
disinclined  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  .  .  .  Let  the  instruction  com- 
municated be  adapted  to  the  juvenile  capacity  of  the  pupil  .  .  .  and 
in  a  manner  calculated  to  interest  him. 


Various  features  of  public  educational  practices  before  1860  are 
further  described  in  contemporary  accounts  of  the  ante-bellum 
schools.  The  following  is  a  description  of  a  school  and  school- 
master in  South  Carolina:1 

To  those  who  have  witnessed  the  state  of  things  in  Germany,  in 
the  Northern  States  of  our  confederacy,  in  any  country  in  which  edu- 
cation is  made  a  department  of  the  government,  and  compared  it  with 
the  workings  of  the  voluntary  system ;  who  have  seen  in  the  one  case, 
the  pains  taken  in  the  preparation  and  trial  of  teachers,  the  atten- 
tion paid  to  school  architecture,  the  attractions  thrown  around  the 
schoolroom,  and  the  appliances  for  facilitating  both  the  business  of 
learners  and  teachers ;  and  have  contrasted  the  life,  energy,  and  spirit 
everywhere  displayed,  with  the  stagnant  uniformity  which  the  other 
case  as  universally  presents,  there  needs  no  other  argument.  They 
have  but  to  look  on  this  picture,  and  then  on  that.  No  wonder  that 
our  children,  with  their  bright  morning  faces,  so  often  realize  Shaks- 
speare's  description — "creeping  like  snail  unwillingly  to  school."  There 
is  nothing  in  the  associations  of  the  place  to  invite  either  mind  or 
body:  "the  dismal  situation  waste  and  wild,"  deserves  the  name  which 
common  consent  has  affixed  to  it,  and  we  cannot  but  admire  the 
instinctive  sense  of  fitness  which  has  appropriated  these  dungeons  of 
the  young  to  localities  which  the  plow  has  deserted  to  broomsedge 
and  rabbits. 

lfThe  Free  School  System  of  South  Carolina.  Columbia,  1856.  (Author 
unknown.) 


298          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

We  remember  well  the  place  where  our  own  ideas  were  first  taught 
to  shoot — a  log  cabin,  about  eighteen  by  twenty,  the  chinks  stopped 
with  wood  and  daubed  with  clay.  One  end  was  almost  wholly  taken 
up  in  a  fireplace,  in  the  jambs  of  which,  Noah  and  his  family  might 
have  been  comfortably  accommodated.  The  chimney  was  a  pen  con- 
structed of  billets  of  wood,  and  open  on  the  side  which  faced  the  room, 
and,  though  protected  from  the  fire  by  a  thick  lining  of  clay,  the 
destructive  element  had  contrived  to  elude  all  obstructions,  and  to 
open  sundry  communications,  like  that  of  Pyramus  and  Thisbe,  with 
the  oxygen  without.  The  other  end  was  adorned  with  a  window,  a 
genuine  opening,  which  made  no  distinction  between  the  air  and  light, 
and  which  scorned  the  modern  contrivances  by  which  one  could  be 
admitted  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other.  Midway,  on  one  side,  was  the 
door,  creaking  on  wooden  hinges,  and  near  it,  there  hung,  except  when 
it  was  in  use  (and  that  was  not  seldom — for,  in  schoolboy  phrase,  it 
was  kept  hot),  a  forked  stick,  which  served  as  a  pass  to  all  whom 
nature  or  idleness  rendered  uneasy  in  their  straitened  circumstances. 
No  one  ever  dared  to  leave  the  room,  however  stringent  the  call,  when 
that  stick  was  missing  from  its  peg. 

The  other  side  was  minus  a  log ;  the  vacant  space  being  used  as  a 
light  to  the  general  writing-desk  of  the  school,  which  consisted  of  a 
plank  extended  horizontally  the  whole  length  of  the  room.  At  a  given 
signal,  every  member  of  our  little  establishment  was  required  to  take 
down  his  copy-book,  put  himself  at  this  desk,  and  set  about  the  serious 
operation  of  chirography.  During  this  exercise,  our  backs  were  turned 
to  the  master ;  and  well  do  we  recollect  the  generous  indignation  with 
which  we  looked  upon  his  unfairness  in  stealing  up  behind  us,  slyly 
inspecting  our  performances,  and,  when  they  were  not  to  his  mind, 
giving  us  a  demonstration  of  his  presence,  which  left  the  fingers  in 
unfortunate  trim  for  further  achievements.  Our  knuckles  ache  now, 
albeit  more  than  thirty  winters  have  passed  over  our  heads,  when  we 
think  of  that  formidable  ruler.  What  multiplied  the  danger  of  slips 
(the  technical  name  for  every  kind  of  blunder,  from  a  mistake  in  spell- 
ing to  a  mistake  in  marking),  was  the  manner  in  which  we  kept  our 
ink.  We  had  to  put  it  in  small  vials,  and  as  they  were  easily  upset, 
we  guarded  against  the  chances  of  loss  by  putting  in  enough  of  cotton 
to  absorb  it.  It  not  unfrequently  happened,  that  in  squeezing  out  the 
ink,  a  small  fragment  of  the  cotton  would  stick  to  the  pen,  and  the 
consequence  was  a  mark,  a  huge  sprawl,  which  sad  experience  taught 
us  was  like  the  seal  of  fate.  Our  benches  had  the  merit  of  training 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  299 

us  to  early  habits  of  self-denial  and  mortification  of  the  flesh ;  we  were 
sure  that,  for  the  first  year  of  our  schoolboy  experience,  our  feet  never 
rested  on  the  floor  when  our  thighs  and  legs  made  any  assignable 
angle ;  and  the  only  relief  we  could  obtain  when  the  forked  stick  was 
missing,  was  to  convert  our  bodies  into  an  inclined  plane,  by  propping 
the  small  of  the  back  against  the  edge  of  the  bench. 

Our  dominie  was,  in  many  respects,  a  good-natured  man,  but  even 
Job's  patience  could  not  have  been  proof  against  the  trials  he  endured 
in  the  grievous  misprints  of  text-books.  By  some  odd  fatality,  every 
hard  sum  in  Daboll's  Arithmetic  had  the  answer  wrong ;  and  we  shall 
never  forget  the  earnestness  with  which  the  good  old  man,  after  having 
tugged  for  hours  over  a  tough  question  which  had  stumped  our  feebler 
capacities,  would  expatiate  upon  the  blunders  of  Daboll,  and  the 
merits  of  Pike,  the  book  which  he  had  studied,  and  which  he  recom- 
mended to  us  as  the  very  pink  of  perfection  in  figures.  Misfortunes, 
however,  never  come  single ;  a  copy  of  Pike  was  at  length  procured ; 
we  prized  it  as  a  treasure,  and  bore  it  in  triumph  to  our  venerable 
teacher.  His  eyes  glistened  with  delight,  and  reciprocated  his  joy,  in 
the  hope  that  the  course  of  arithmetic,  unlike  that  of  true  love, 
might  for  once  run  smooth.  0  fallacem  hominum  spent,  fragilemque 
jortunam  \  What  was  our  consternation  and  amazement,  when  we 
found  upon  trial  that  we  were  still  the  sport  of  mischievous  printers, 
and  that  every  hard  sum,  even  in  Pike,  had  the  answer  wrong ! 

Our  teacher  was  skilled  in  Latin;  but  he  would  never  consent  to 
use  any  other  copies  of  the  classics  but  those  of  Clark,  which  con- 
tained the  text  and  an  English  translation  in  parallel  columns.  In 
justice,  however,  to  his  prudence,  we  must  say,  that  he  always  advised 
us  to  put  our  hands  over  the  English  when  we  were  studying  the 
Latin— a  thing  which  we  never  failed  to  do  when  we  went  to  recite, 
provided  we  had  gotten  the  English  by  heart ;  but,  by  a  singular  coin- 
cidence, whenever  our  memories  were  treacherous,  our  fingers  were 
slippery.  One  exercise  of  the  school,  at  least,  was  a  hearty  one — the 
closing  labor  of  the  day.  At  a  given  hour,  the  teacher  vociferated  at 
the  top  of  his  voice  "spellings,"  and  every  urchin  flew  like  lightning  to 
his  dictionary.  The  scene  that  ensued  beggars  all  description ;  it  was 
not  exactly  like  the  roar  of  many  waters,  or  the  sound  of  mighty 
thunderings,  but  there  was  a  noise — and  such  a  noise  as  threw  Bedlam 
into  the  shade,  and  what  a  glorious  time  was  that  when,  at  the  close 
of  the  lesson  there  was  a  general  rush,  first  for  hats,  caps,  and  bonnets, 
buckets,  baskets,  and  bottles — and  then  for  the  door! 


300  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

This  was  what  is  called  an  old  field  school,  and  we  have  reason  to 
suspect  that  such  institutions  are  something  more  than  traditions  of 
the  past.  For  two  years  we  are  sure  that  we  never  saw  the  face  of  a 
patron  within  the  walls  of  the  cabin.  It  was  a  wealthy  neighborhood ; 
two  of  the  trustees,  if  trustees  they  might  be  called,  were  worth  a 
hundred  negroes  apiece ;  and  they  had  sons  who  were  receiving  the 
elements,  on  which  a  liberal  education  was  to  be  afterwards  engrafted. 
They  had  confidence  in  the  master,  and  they  left  everything  to  his 
discretion.  They  had  done  their  part  when  they  employed  him  and 
gave  him  a  place  to  teach  in.  There  may  be  exceptions  to  this  lax 
method  of  proceeding — cases  in  which  a  real  supervision  is  exercised, 
but  they  are  only  exceptions,  and  not  the  rule.  The  voluntary  system, 
for  the  most  part,  terminates  the  care  and  responsibilities  of  the  neigh- 
borhood in  the  settlement  of  the  teacher.  He  makes  no  complaints  of 
his  accommodations — it  is  not  his  place ;  he  is  satisfied  with  whatever 
text-books  are  at  hand,  or  those  which  are  most  familiar  to  himself, 
and  institutes  such  discipline  as  his  own  indolence  and  desire  of  pleasing 
may  suggest,  without  reference  to  the  dispositions,  capacities,  and 
aptitudes  of  the  child. 

A  very  popular  practice  was  that  of  "  turning  out "  the  teacher 
a  few  days  before  the  close  of  the  term.  The  extract  below  is 
descriptive  of  the  custom  in  South  Carolina  near  the  close  of  the 
first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  the  attempt  here 
described  was  not  so  successful  as  were  most  attempts  at  "turning 
out"  the  teacher:1 

This  was  at  a  time  when  it  was  the  custom  for  the  boys  to  turn  out 
the  master  a  day  or  two  before  the  term  of  school  ended.  Schools  were 
seldom  taken  up  for  a  longer  period  than  from  three  to  six  months. 
The  first  quarter  of  Mr.  Quigley's  school  was  about  to  terminate,  and 
the  big  boys  agreed  to  turn  him  out  and  make  him  treat  before  the 
beginning  of  the  second  quarter.  It  was  the  teacher's  habit,  every  day, 
to  take  a  walk  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  about  eleven  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  calling  to  his  desk  some  of  the  larger  boys  to  keep  order 
during  his  absence.  No  sooner  had  he  descended  the  foot  of  the  hill 
leading  toward  the  spring  than  the  three  larger  boys  in  the  school 
began  barricading  the  door.  There  was  only  one  door  to  the  cabin, 
and  by  taking  up  the  benches,  which  were  ten  or  fifteen  feet  long, 

1Sims,  The  Story  of  my  Life.  New  York,  1884. 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  301 

and  crossing  them  diagonally,  one  to  the  right  and  another  to  the 
left,  in  the  door,  the  benches  projecting  as  much  outside  as  inside  the 
house,  a  complete  barricade  was  formed  which  could  easily  be  de- 
fended against  assault  from  without.  When  the  old  gentleman  saw 
what  had  been  done  he  became  perfectly  furious.  He  was  so  violent 
that  he  easily  intimidated  the  ringleaders.  He  swore  that  he  would 
not  give  up,  and  would  not  treat,  and  that  he  was  coming  into  the 
house  whether  or  no.  At  last  he  commenced  to  climb  on  the  roof  of 
the  house,  and  to  throw  a  part  of  it  off.  It  was  covered  with  boards 
held  on  by  poles.  The  ringleaders,  seeing  that  he  was  sure  to 
effect  an  entrance  anyway,  became  intimidated,  and  agreed  to  remove 
the  barricade  if  he  would  promise  not  to  whip  them.  After  parleying 
a  little  while,  he  promised  that  he  would  not  flog  the  ringleaders.  He 
was  a  man  of  the  most  violent  temper,  and,  although  fifty-five  years  of 
age,  he  was  very  strong  and  active.  The  ringleader  of  the  gang  was 
young  Bob  Stafford.  He  was  tall,  slender,  and  very  strong ;  but  was 
evidently  afraid  of  the  teacher,  and  showed  the  white  feather  decidedly. 
As  Mr.  Quigley  came  in  he  walked  up  to  young  Stafford,  who  stood 
trembling  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  said :  "  Sir,"  as  he  drew  his 
big  fist  back,  "I  have  a  great  mind  to  run  my  fist  right  through  your 
body ! "  I  had  always  thought  Mr. .  Quigley  would  do  whatever  he 
said  he  would  do,  and  I  remembered  with  what  horror  I  looked  at 
Stafford,  expecting  every  minute  to  see  the  old  gentleman's  fist  come 
out  through  his  back. 

The  following  account,  from  the  same  source  as  the  preceding 
extract,  shows  that  occasionally  a  really  human-interest  incident 
broke  in  upon  the  dull  and  tasteless  routine  of  school  life  and 
"livened  things  up": 

The  next  school  that  I  attended  was  taught  by  Mr.  John  E.  San- 
derson, an  Irishman.  I  was  now  seven  years  old.  He  taught  school 
alternately  in  the  Waxhaws  and  Hanging-Rock  neighborhoods.  The 
Waxhaws  were  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county,  and  the  Hanging- 
Rock  neighborhood  in  the  southern.  He  was  a  fine  teacher  for  arith- 
metic and  writing.  But  he  was  very  cruel,  and  whipped  the  boys 
often  without  any  provocation  at  all.  He  thrashed  them  even  when 
they  were  nearly  grown,  although  he  was  a  small  man.  But  he  was 
so  violent  in  his  temper  and  in  the  government  of  his  school  that 
the  larger  boys  were  afraid  of  him.  There  was  only  one  day  in  the 


302  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

week  when  the  school  was  happy,  and  that  was  Monday.  He  always 
got  drunk  on  Saturday  night,  remained  so  all  day  Sunday,  and  came  to 
school  Monday  morning  as  full  as  he  could  be,  and  then  was  always 
jolly  and  good-tempered.  He  would  then  pinch  the  girls'  arms,  and 
say  witty  things  to  the  boys,  and  he  never  whipped  anybody  on 
Monday,  so  we  were  always  happy  on  that  day.  But  when  Tuesday 
arrived  he  reverted  to  his  old  ways  of  severity.  We  had  one  poor 
fellow  named  Ike  Tillman  in  school.  He  was  an  orphan,  and  was 
for  many  years  under  the  tuition  of  Mr.  Sanderson,  and  wherever  he 
located  a  school,  whether  in  one  part  of  the  county  or  the  other, 
Ike  Tillman  always  followed  him.  He  was  a  bad  boy  without  being 
very  bad.  He  was  very  indolent,  but  not  stupid.  Mr.  Sanderson  had 
begun  to  whip  him  when  he  was  seven  or  eight  years  old,  and  the  boy 
had  got  so  used  to  it  that  he  expected  to  be  flogged  every  day,  even 
when  he  was  eighteen  years  old  and  nearly  six  feet  high.  And  he  was 
seldom  disappointed.  At  last  one  or  two  of  the  boys,  about  his  own 
age,  said  to  him,  one  day,  "  Ike,  you're  too  big  to  be  flogged ;  if  I  were 
you,  I  would  show  fight  next  time." 

"Well,"  he  said,  "boys,  if  you'll  stand  by  me  I  will  do  it;  but  if 
you  don't  I  can't  afford  it." 

They  agreed  to  stand  by  him.  Ike  had  a  slate  about  twelve  by  ten 
inches,  and  the  wooden  frame  had  been  broken  and  lost.  The  next 
day  Mr.  Sanderson  called  up  Ike  for  a  thrashing.  Ike  came  up,  with 
his  slate  in  his  hand,  leaning  it  against  his  bosom,  and  he  said  : 

"Mr.  Sanderson,  you  have  been  whipping  me,  sir,  ever  since  I  was  a 
little  boy.  I  am  now  a  man.  I  will  be  d — d  if  I'll  stand  it  any  longer ! 
If  you  come  a  step  nearer  to  me,  I  will  split  your  d — d  old  head  open 
with  this  slate  ! " 

Mr.  Sanderson  was  surprised,  and  he  changed  his  tactics  immedi- 
ately, and  said: 

"Why,  Ikey,  why,  you  would  not  strike  me  with  that  slate,  would 
you?" 

Ike  said:  "You  come  one  step  toward  me  and  I'll  split  you  open, 
clean  down  from  your  head  to  your  backbone,  and,"  said  he,  "these 
boys  have  promised  to  see  me  through  the  fight ! " 

"Well,  Ikey,"  said  Mr.  Sanderson,  "we  have  lived  together  a  long 
time,  but  I  don't  think  we  can  afford  to  be  enemies ;  and,  if  you  are 
willing,  we'll  let  by-gones  be  by-gones,  and  we'll  enter  from  this  day 
on  into  a  new  relationship."  The  old  man  saw  that  the  game  was  up 
and  too  strong  for  him ;  and,  sure  enough,  so  far  as  Ike  Tillman  and 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  303 

the  larger  boys  were  concerned,  the  old  man  was  taught  a  lesson  that 
he  never  forgot  afterward.  But  he  was  so  cruel  to  me  and  my  little 
brother,  and  other  little  children,  that  I  swore  in  my  heart  that,  if  I 
ever  got  to  be  a  man,  I  would  thrash  him,  if  he  were  as  old  as 
Methuselah.  I  remember  one  Saturday  meeting  him  on  the  road,  near 
my  father's  house.  My  little  brother  and  I  were  riding  double  on  a 
little  pony.  He  was  riding  in  the  opposite  direction,  meeting  us.  He 
was  very  drunk;  and,  as  soon  as  he  got  near  enough  to  us,  he  com- 
menced striking  at  us  with  his  stick,  and  really  hurt  my  brother  very 
much.  We  got  away  as  fast  as  we  could,  and  galloped  home  to  tell  my 
father  what  had  happened.  But  Sanderson  was  the  only  teacher  in  the 
county,  and  if  a  boy  didn't  go  to  school  to  him  there  was  no  school 
for  him  to  go  to,  and  parents  had  to  put  up  with  his  cruelties  to  their 
children,  because  they  could  not  help  themselves.  They  were  afraid 
to  speak  to  him  about  his  treatment  for  fear  he  would  dismiss  their 
children  from  school., 

School  practices  in  the  South  have  recently  undergone  many 
improvements,  but  it  was  many  years  after  the  close  of  the  war 
before  any  great  advance  was  made  in  school  equipment,  in  sup- 
port, in  the  preparation  of  an  adequate  supply  of  teachers,  in 
textbooks,  or  in  other  parts  of  school  work  discussed  in  this 
chapter.  The  results  of  that  conflict  and  the  disturbing  effects  of 
the  years  which  followed  served  to  delay  a  wholesome  development 
of  public  education.  Gradually,  however,  new  influences  began  to 
be  felt.  The  ideas  and  methods  advocated  by  Pestalozzi,  which, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Fellenberg  manual-labor  movement, 
were  not  generally  adopted  before  1860,  after  that  date  began  to 
appear  through  information  concerning  their  use  in  European 
schools.  This  information  had  been  circulated  through  official 
state  reports  and  educational  periodicals  and  through  the  reports 
of  travelers  who  had  visited  and  studied  schools  abroad.  Improve- 
ments began  slowly  to  be  made  in  textbooks  which  helped  to 
improve  instruction,  new  subjects  began  to  come  in  and  to 
broaden  the  curriculum,  attempts  were  made  to  grade  the  schools 
and  the  pupils  into  classes,  and  interest  in  high-school  instruction 
slowly  developed.  The  rise  and  development  of  normal  schools 


304  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

and  other  teacher-training  agencies  helped  to  raise  the  standards 
of  teaching  and  promoted  the  cause  of  education  by  basing  instruc- 
tion on  the  principles  of  psychology.  But  these  changes  came 
in  the  South  only  after  many  years  of  toil  and  effort  and  of  de- 
termination to  rebuild  the  resources  depleted  by  the  war  and  to 
restore  the  public  confidence  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
bitterness  of  reconstruction.  The  effect  of  those  years,  from 
which  the  South  is  only  now  recovering,  will  be  studied  in  chapters 
that  are  to  follow. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Why  was  the  ante-bellum  curriculum  confined  almost  exclu- 
sively to  the  three  R's  ?  List  the  subjects  required  by  law  to  be  taught 
in  the  elementary  school  in  your  State  and  explain  the  purpose  of 
each.  Trace  the  expansion  of  the  curriculum  since  1860.  How  has  it 
expanded  during  the  past  twenty  years? 

2  What  are  the  advantages  of  uniform  schoolbooks?  What  are 
the  disadvantages  ?  How  are  textbooks  adopted  in  your  State  for  the 
elementary  schools?  for  the  high  schools? 

3.  What  are  the  characteristics  of  a  good  spelling  book?     Com- 
pare the  old  method  or  methods  of  teaching  spelling  with  the  methods 
of  teaching  that  subject  today.   What  was  the  value  of  the  old-time 
"spelling  bees"  or  "spelling  matches"? 

4.  Compare  the  early  readers  with  those  in  use  in  the  schools  of 
your  State  today. 

5.  Why  was  arithmetic  given  such  an  important  place  in  the  ante- 
bellum curriculum?   What  was  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  subject? 
What  are  the  characteristics  of  a  good  textbook  on  arithmetic  ?    Study 
the  examples  from  Pike,  given  in  this  chapter,  and  point  out  their 
advantages  and  disadvantages. 

6.  Explain  why  geography  came  slowly  to  be  a  distinct  subject 
in  the  schools.    How  did  the  purpose  and  method  of  early  geography- 
teaching  differ  from  the  purpose  and  method  of  teaching  that  subject 
today?   How  has  the  method  of  teaching   the  subject  changed  in 
recent  years  ?   Account  for  this  change.    In  what  respect  is  geography 
a  "practical"  subject?  a  "moral"  subject?   a  "cultural"  subject? 


SCHOOL  PRACTICES  BEFORE  1860  305 

7.  How  have  textbooks  on  grammar  and  methods  of  teaching  the 
subject  changed  in  recent  years  ? 

8.  Compare  the  early  histories  with  the  texts  in  use  in  your  school 
today.   What  was  the  purpose  of  the  subject  when  it  first  appeared? 
What  is  the  purpose  of  the  subject  today  ?   List  the  characteristics  of 
a  good  textbook  on  history  and  the  qualifications  of  a  good  teacher 
of  the  subject. 

9.  Why  was  discipline  in  the  ante-bellum  school  so  severe?   Ac- 
count for  the  poor  buildings  and  meager  equipment  of  the  early  schools. 

10.  Explain  the  low  esteem  in  which  the  ante-bellum  schoolmaster 
was  held  by  the  public  generally.    Trace  the  development  of  the  train- 
ing and  certification  of  teachers  in  your  State.   Why  were  there  so  few 
women  teaching  school  in  the  South  before  1860? 

11.  Account  for  the  lack  of  supervision  in  the  ante-bellum  schools. 
What  improvement  in  supervision  has  been  made  in  your  State  in  this 
respect  in  recent  years?   What  is  the  present  status  of  rural  super- 
vision in  your  county  ? 

12.  Account  for  the  fact  that  there  has  always  been  a  lack  of  ade- 
quately trained  teachers  in  the  South.   Why  has  this  lack  been  so 
keenly  felt  in  very  recent  years  ? 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Annual  reports  and  legislative  documents  of  the  various  States.  BARNARD, 
The  American  Journal  of  Education,  30  vols.  Hartford,  1855-1881.  COON, 
North  Carolina  Schools  and  Academies,  1790-1840.  Raleigh,  1915.  CUBBER- 
LEY,  Public  Education  in  the  United  States.  Boston,  1919.  HEATWOLE, 
A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  JOHNSON,  Old-time 
School  and  School-books.  New  York,  1904.  KNIGHT,  Public  School  Educa- 
tion in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.  MADDOX,  The  Free  School  Idea  in 
Virginia  before  the  Civil  War.  New  York,  1918.  MONROE,  Development  of 
Arithmetic  as  a  School  Subject.  Bulletin  No.  10,  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education.  Washington,  1917.  REEDER,  The  Historical  Development  of 
School  Readers  and  Methods  of  teaching  Reading.  New  York,  1900.  SHINN, 
History  of  Education  in  Arkansas.  Washington,  1900.  SIMS,  The  Story  of 
my  Life.  New  York,  1884.  The  Free  School  System  of  South  Carolina. 
Columbia,  1856.  (Author  unknown.)  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School 
Education  in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public 
School  Education  in  Arkansas.  Washington,  1912. 


CHAPTER  IX 
REORGANIZATON  AFTER  THE  WAR 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  The  so-called  "reconstruction  period" 
proved  more  destructive  than  the  war  to  the  resources  of  public  educa- 
tion. It  served  also  to  give  rise  and  currency  to  inaccurate  and  loose 
statements  concerning  the  extent  of  ante-bellum  educational  facilities 
in  the  South. 

2.  Careful  studies,  however,  now  show  that  the  schools  in  the  South 
before  1860  were  not  altogether  unlike  schools  in  other  sections  of  the 
country  during  the  ante-bellum  period. 

3.  Comparisons  of  education  in  the  various  sections  of  the  country 
before  1860  have  led  to  the  specific  question  of  the  educational  in- 
fluence of  reconstruction  in  the  South.   This  can  be  answered  only 
by  a  careful  study  of  affairs  in  that  section  between  1865  and  1867 
andxbeiween  1867  and  1876. 

[4]  Several  of  the  States  sought,  under  the  presidential  plan  of  recon- 
stbiction  (1865  to  1868),  to  provide  educational  plans  to  meet  the 
changed  conditions,  but  the  adoption  of  the  congressional  plan  of 
restoring  the  South  prevented  any  marked  success  in  such  undertakings. 

fty/The  constitutional  conventions  held  under  this  plan  were  ex- 
tremely radical,  and  wholesome  educational  interest  was  generally 
deadened  by  the  agitation  of  the  mixed-school  question.  But  the  edu- 
cational provisions  of  the  new  constitutions  were  somewhat  more 
specific  than  ante-bellum  provisions  had  been. 

6.  The  school  laws  enacted  under  the  new  constitutions  were  gen- 
erally more  advanced  in  mandatory  provisions  for  schools  than  was  the 
legislation  before  the  war.  But  adverse  conditions  which  grew  out  of 
the  years  of  reconstruction  prevented  the  successful  operation  of  the 
schools  for  many  years  after  that  period  had  formally  closed. 

The  rebuilding  and  reorganization  of  a  public-school  system 
after  the  war  was  one  of  the  many  disheartening  tasks  which 
confronted  the  people  of  the  Selith.  The  question  of  the  edu- 
cation of  all  the  people  soon  became  more  critically  important 

306 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  307 

there  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Union.  The  problem  was 
complicated  and  discouraging.  The  South  emerged  from  the 
four  years'  conflict  with  the  loss  of  a  large  part  of  her  white  male 
population  and  the  complete  loss  of  practically  all  her  accumulated 
capital.  Not  only  was  it  difficult  to  restore  the  material  resources 
necessary  for  the  building  of  schools,  but  the  iniquities  of  the  re- 
construction period  made  an  immediate  and  complete  restoration 
of  public  confidence  tedious  and  well-nigh  impossible. 

In  fact,  the  so-called  restoration  period  proved  more  destructive 
than  the  war  itself.  It  robbed  the  South  of  what  the  war  had 
spared,  and  by  looting  treasuries  and  public  funds,  by  imposing 
enormous  taxes,  by  practicing  fraud  and  extravagance,  and  by 
piling  up  colossal  bonded  debts  it  succeeded  in  running  its  corrupt 
fingers  deep  "into  the  pockets  of  posterity"  and  left  in  those 
States,  already  reduced  to  penury  by  the  terrors  of  war,  a  debt  of 
more  than  $300,000,000.  Thus  many  of  the  richest  portions  of  the 
South  were  wasted  and  shorn  of  their  prosperity;  industry  was 
checked  in  its  development ;  idleness  and  fraud  were  widely  en- 
couraged; local  justice  was  thwarted  and  put  in  contempt;  the 
people  were  ruled  by  corrupt  and  reckless  officials,  and  almost 
all  tendencies  to  good  government  were  stifled.  In  this  experi- 
ence is  the  explanation  of  the  South 's  educational  backwardness 
following  the  war,  and  of  the  indictment,  so  frequently  made,  that 
the  South  hates  taxes  and  tax  collectors  and  distrusts  all  "public 
welfare"  plans  and  movements.  In  this  experience  may  likewise 
be  found  the  explanation  of  the  South's  so-called  devotion  to  a 
sort  of  laissez-faire  theory  in  education  and  of  the  frequent  ex- 
treme applications  of  the  principle  of  local  government  in  edu- 
cational administration.1 

Concerning  the  actual  educational  influence  of  the  reconstruc- 
tion period  a  variety  of  loose  and  inaccurate  statements  have  been 
made.  It  was  once  popular  to  assert  that  there  was  no  public- 
school  system  in  the  South  prior  to  the  war,  that  little  effort 
for  education  had  been  made  there  before  that  time,  and  that  a 

1See  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 


308  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE 

lack  of  educational  tradition  for  all  the  people  was  largely  respon- 
sible for  the  war  and  its  deplorable  consequences.  Such  education 
as  w.as  given  in  the  ante-bellum  South  was  held  by  some  writers 
to  have  been  based  on  wrong  principles,  which  finally  produced 
the  secessionist  and  the  rebellion.  It  was  also  believed  that  the 
poor  whites  of  the  South  were  in  dense  ignorance  and  that  this 
ignorance  had  been  exploited  by  unprincipled  leaders  and  made 
the  foundation  for  secession  and  the  Confederacy.  In  still  other 
quarters  it  was  believed  that  the  white  leaders  of  the  South  fre- 
quently opposed  public  education  for  the  masses  of  the  people  and 
that  all  classes  of  the  native  whites  opposed  the  education  of  the 
negroes  after  their  emancipation. 

Evidence  of  these  opinions  accumulated  for  many  years  and 
became  abundant.  The  war  had  scarcely  closed  before  they  were 
finding  expression  throughout  the  country.  The  speeches  in  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  National  Teachers'  Association,  which  was 
held  in  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  in  August,  1865,  gave  expres- 
sion to  the  theory  that  the  lately  closed  rebellion  had  been  a  "war 
of  education  and  patriotism  against  ignorance  and  barbarism." 
In  his  opening  speech  the  president  of  that  organization  said  at 
that  time : 

All  through  the  loyal  States  our  principal  institutions  have  prospered 
to  a  most  wonderful  degree.  How  has  it  been  with  the  States  in  rebel- 
lion? Scarcely  an  institution  of  learning  survived.  ...  In  all  free 
States  the  public-school  system  prevailed,  and  in  most  was  adminis- 
tered with  great  efficiency,  giving  a  good  education  alike  to  the  poor 
and  the  rich.  .  .  .  How  was  it  in  the  States  where  the  institution  of 
slavery  prevailed?  There  was  no  common-school  system.  Exceptions 
there  were  in  some  of  the  cities — but  as  a  general  fact,  the  statement 
is  correct.  The  children  of  a  large  portion  of  the  population  were,  by 
law,  prohibited  the  advantages  of  an  education,  and  a  large  portion  of 
the  free  population  were  virtually  shut  out  from  the  means  of  an  early 
culture.  .  .  .  Thus  has  our  land  been  deluged  in  blood.  Sagacious 
politicians  of  the  South  saw  the  tendencies,  and  attributed  the  evil 
to  the  quality  of  Northern  education.  Without  stopping  to  defend 
the  character  of  our  educational  processes  in  the  North,  let  it  be 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  309 

observed  that  the  root  of  the  difficulty  lay  notv>  this  direction,  but 
in  the  fact  of  a  diffused  and  universal  education  at  *he  North  and  a 
very  limited  education  at  the  South.  No  two  sections  tf  the  country, 
though  under  the  same  government,  can  dwell  together  ir  peace  and 
harmony,  where  the  advantages  of  education  are  widely  dissirtilar.  .  .  . 

There  is  but  one  alternative — education  must  be  diffused  through- 
out the  masses  of  the  South.  Black  and  white — "poor  white"  and 
rich  white — all  must  be  educated.  Not  to  educate  them  is  to  prepare 
for  another  Civil  War.^.  .  r- 

Before  the  war  no  southern  teacher  dared  to  discuss  the  whole 
truth  at  the  South.  .  .  .  Can  we  not  as  educators  go  boldly  into  South- 
ern States  and  teach  the  truth  and  the  whole  truth?  If  not,  I  pray 
God  that  martial  law  may  prevail  in  every  Southern  State,  till  Northern 
men,  or  any  other  men,  may  discuss  educational,  social,  political,  and 
moral  and  religious  topics  in  any  part  of  the  South  as  freely  as  in 
Faneuil  Hall.  This  right  we  must  have.  .  .  . 

The  result  of  the  war  was  also  regarded  as  affording  opportu- 
nities for  extending  universal  education  in  the  Southern  States. 
That  region  was  now  viewed  as  a  vast  missionary  field,  and  this 
view  was  one  of  the  defenses  of  the  policy  finally  adopted  for 
reconstructing  those  States.  As  a  result  the  decade  following  the 
close  of  the  war  witnessed  much  misdirected  missionary  zeal  and 
visionary  effort.  With  the  single  exception  of  the  Peabody  Fund, 
which  had  a  lasting  beneficial  influence  on  education  in  the  South, 
most  of  such  missionary  activities  were  blindly  made  and  with 
little  or  no  sympathetic  understanding  of  local  conditions  and  local 
needs.  Enthusiasts  on  the  subject  of  educational  and  missionary 
labors  in  the  South  failed  pitiably  to  consider  the  temper  of  the 
popular  mind  and  made  the  mistake  of  believing  that  the  chief 
difference  between  the  white  man  and  the  negro  was  the  enforced 
ignorance  of  the  latter.  This  difference,  in  the  opinion  of  such 
enthusiasts,  could  be  readily  removed.  In  a  pamphlet  issued  near 
the  close  of  the  war  a  Massachusetts  minister  said: 

We  have  four  millions  of  liberated  slaves  who  should  be  educated. 
They  ask  it  of  our  hands,  and  the  world  expects  us  to  do  it ;  because 
in  the  very  act  of  emancipation  there  is  the  sacred  promise  to  educate. 


310  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Slavery  has  kept  tfl  word  education  out  of  our  constitution.  Now 
four  millions  o*  starved  minds  implore  its  introduction.  .  .  .  Their 
former  master ,  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  educate  them,  and  would 
generally  rp~use  to  pay  a  local  tax  for  the  purpose.  Since  the  Chris- 
tian era  there  has  not  been  such  an  opportunity  for  such  a  country 
to  do  r'jch  work;  the  noblest  work  man  can  do.  ...  The  old  slave 
States  are  to  be  missionary  grounds  for  the  national  schoolmasterr-rTT 

Largely  in  this  manner  there  developed  the  theory  that  the 
schools  which  did  exist  in  the  South  before  1860  were  altogether 
unlike  those  found  in  other  sections  of  the  country.  A  careful 
study,  however,  of  evidence  found  in  school  laws,  reports  of  ad- 
ministrative officers,  school  statistics,  messages  of  the  governors, 
and  other  documentary  materials  in  the  various  States  reveals 
the  fact  that  in  origin,  organization,  and  results,  so  far  as  results 
can  be  compared,  educational  effort  in  one  section  of  the  Union 
before  the  war  was  very  similar  to  that  in  other  sections. 

Most  of  the  state  school  systems  in  this  country  passed  through 
a  storm-and-stress  period  in  their  development.  In  practically 
all  of  them  there  were  educational  landmarks  which  were  made 
by  long  periods  of  agitation  and  the  resulting  growth  of  whole- 
some educational  sentiment.  The  so-called  early  educational  re- 
vival in  North  Carolina,  for  example,  from  the  establishment  of 
the  literary  fund  in  1825  to  the  passage  of  the  first  school  law 
fourteen  years  later,  is  practically  paralleled  by  the  educational 
campaign  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  early  thirties.  The  educational 
work  of  Horace  Mann  in  Massachusetts  and  of  Henry  Barnard 
in  Connecticut  was  not  altogether  unlike  the  work,  at  somewhat 
later  dates,  of  Wiley  in  North  Carolina  and  of  Perry  in  Alabairiar 
Early  school  legislation  in  many  of  the  Southern  States  was 
framed  on  a  theory  very  similar  to  that  on  which  it  was  set  up  in 
New  York, — that  the  income  from  the  literary  fund  and  a  small 
tax  were  sufficient  for  educational  purposes.  The  theory  on  which 
ante-bellum  schools  in  Georgia  were  set  up  was  not  unlike  the 
theory  on  which  early  schools  in  Pennsylvania  operated.1 

1  See  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  xi. 


.  REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  311 

From  such  comparisons  as  are  usually  made,  however,  general 
opinions  have  been  formed  which  have  led  to  the  more  specific 
question,  What  influence  did  the  so-called  reconstruction  regime 
actually  have  on  ed/Qcation  in  the  South?  Obviously  a  satisfac- 
tory answer  to  the  question  can  be  had  only  by  a  detailed  and 
careful  comparison  of  ante-bellum  conditions  with  the  reconstruc- 
tion and  post-bellum  conditions.  Such  comparison  requires  a 
clear  differentiation  both  of  the  periods  between  1865  and  1876 
and  the  plans  proposed  for  restoring  the  South,  and  of  the  classes 
of  men  who  took  part  in  the  formal  restoration  and  in  the  work 
which  followed. 

Of  the  two  plansjproposed  for  restoring  the  South  to  normal  re- 
lations with  the  Union  the  presidential  plan  of  reconstruction,  from 
1865  to  1867,  was  an  attempt  to  enlist  the^ooperation  of  the 
native  white  ~citizeris7  UndeF  the  congressional  plan,  however, 
from  1867  to  1876,  three  classes  participated  in  political  affairs: 
the  native  whitea^the  negro  fregmen,  and  men  from  the  North. 
The  native  whites,  were  sharply  divided  into  two  classes,  the 
conservative  andjthe  radicals,  or  "  scalawags " ;  the  negroes  were 
the  most  homogeneous,  usually  of  the  same  mind  and  easily 
influenced ;  while  the  men  from  the  North,  popularly  known  as 
"carpetbaggers,"  were,  from  the  South's  point  of  view,  predomi- 
nantly radical.  The  reconstruction  conventions  were  composed 
largely  of  negroes,  carpetbaggers,  and  scalawags,  and  this  was 
largely  true  of  many  legislative  bodies  of  that  period. 

The  presidential  plan  of  restoration  began  before  the  war 
closed.  Provisional  governments  had  been  established  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  in  Arkansas,  in  Louisiana,  and  in  Tennessee  during 
the  war,  and  he  had  recognized  the  new  state  of  West  Virginia, 
which  was  organized  out  of  Virginia.  Congress,  however,  was 
opposed  to  Lincoln's  plan,  but  had  not  entirely  and  definitely 
rejected  it  when  Lee  surrendered.  After  Lincoln's  death  Presi- 
dent Johnson  sought  to  continue  his  predecessor's  plan  and, 
accordingly,  published  the  amnesty  proclamation,  and  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1865  appointed  provisional  governors  for  North  Carolina, 


312  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH . 

Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  South  Carolina,  and 
Texas.  Each  of  these  States  was  required  to  organize  a  pro- 
visional administration  and  to  call  a  constitutional  convention 
which  was  to  abolish  slavery,  declare  the  ordinance  of  secession 
null  and  void,  repudiate  all  debts  made  to  carry  on  the  war,  and 
provide  a  new  state  constitution  based  on  the  constitutio 
laws  of  1861,  but  without  slavery.  Elections  were  to  be  held  in 
each  State,  and  the  provisional  governors  were  to  be  succeeded  by 
those  governors  elected  under  this  plan. 

This  program  was  followed  in  the  main.  The  Southern  States 
ratified  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  (which  abolished  slavery), 
elected  their  senators  to  Congress,  and  were  ready  for  readmission. 
But  Congress  refused  to  admit  the  Southern  representatives ;  and 
the  governments  of  the  Southern  States  continued  provisional 
and  subject  to  constant  interference  by  President  Johnson.  Mean- 
while, the  breach  between  the  executive  and  Congress  was  widen- 
ing, and  the  latter  proposed  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  and 
made  its  ratification  by  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  Southern 
States  a  condition  precedent  to  the  restoration  of  those  States. 
This  amendment  guaranteed  to  the  freedmen  citizenship  and 
equality  in  civil  rights  and  disqualified  for  state  and  federal 
office  all  persons  who  had  participated  in  the  rebellion  after 
having  taken  the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Many  of  the  leading  white  people  of  the  South  were 
thus  disqualified.  President  Johnson  opposed  the  amendment, 
and  enough  of  the  Southern  States  had  rejected  it  when  Congress 
met  in  December,  1865,  to  indicate  the  prevailing  opinion  there. 

The  agitation  of  the  " rebel"  question  and  congressional  in- 
vestigations, which  looked  to  a  safe  way  of  dealing  with  the 
South,  made  the  year  1866  one  of  heated  campaigning.  The  heat 
of  the  campaign  was  intensified  by  legislation  passed  in  the 
Southern  States  in  1865-1866  and  known  as  the  "black  codes." 
The  task  of  the  lawmakers  in  the  South  at  that  time  was  to 
express  the  change  of  the  black  man  from  a  state  of  slavery  to  a 
state  of  citizenship.  Laws  had  to  be  made  to  regulate  his  family 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  313 

life,  his  morals,  and  his  conduct;  to  give  him  the  legal  right  to 
hold  property  and  to  testify  in  court  and  the  right  of  personal 
protection ;  to  provide  for  his  education,  which  hitherto  had  been 
forbidden  in  the  South ;  to  prevent  him  from  being  exploited  by 
the  unscrupulous ;  and  to  protect  the  white  people  from  his  law- 
lessness. Many  laws  relating  to  the  whites  were  extended  to  the 
blacks,  but  sometimes,  of  course,  with  slight  changes ;  and  those 
laws  which  made  any  distinctions  of  race  served  as  convenient 
campaign  material  and  were  greatly  criticized  in  the  North,  which 
generally  believed  them  to  be  intended  to  reenslave  the  negro. 
Moreover,  by  the  spring  of  1867  the  issue  between  Congress  and 
President  Johnson  was  sharply  drawn.  All  the  Southern  States 
except  Tennessee  had  rejected  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  and  it 
became  known  that  the  provisional  state  governments  in  the 
South  would  be  superseded  by  military  governments  and  that 
suffrage  would  be  extended  to  the  negro.  The  presidential  plan 
had  failed,  and  Congress  took  entire  charge  of  reconstructing 
the  South. 

What  attempts  at  educational  reorganization  and  improvement 
were  made  during  the  presidential  plan  of  reconstruction?  In 
the  preceding  chapter  it  was  noted  that  many  of  the  States 
which  seceded  actually  accomplished  but  little  for  education 
during  the  war,  although  some  undertook  to  continue  the  schools 
as  long  as  possible  and  in  a  few  States  schools  continued  to 
operate  until  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy.  Occasional  educa- 
tional legislation  was  enacted  in  nearly  all  the  Southern  States 
during  the  armed  conflict,  but  the  confusion  and  stress  of  the 
times  made  the  enforcement  of  such  legislation  almost  impossible. 
With  the  organization  of  provisional  governments  in  a  few  of  the 
States  during  the  war  and  in  others  under  the  presidential  proc- 
lamation of  May  29,  1865,  an  educational  interest  appeared 
which  was  indeed  remarkable  for  the  conditions  of  the'  period. 

In  January,  1864,  Governor  Isaac  Murphy,  the  leader  of  the 
movement  which  sought,  under  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  Decem- 
ber 8,  1863,  to  form  a  State  government  in  Arkansas,  urged  in 


314  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

his  message  to  the  Legislature  that  legal  provisions  for  educational 
opportunities  be  made  for  every  child  in  the  State  "and  not 
only  give  the  opportunity,  but  make  the  education  of  the  rising 
generation  a  duty  to  the  State,  to  be  enforced  by  proper  penalties. 
Ignorance  leads  to  slavery;  intelligence  to  freedom."  The  leg- 
islative committee  on  education  made  a  lengthy  and  valuable 
report  on  the  subject  and  recommended  a  state  superintendent 
of  schools  and  property  taxation  for  school  purposes.  But  con- 
fused local  conditions  and  a  depleted  treasury  prevented  action. 

The  Legislature  of  1866-1867,  almost  entirely  conservative 
in  its  composition,  passed  a  school  law  which  was  advanced  and 
modern  in  respect  to  its  provisions  for  educational  administration 
and  support.  Under  this  law  the  schools  were  to  be  maintained 
by  public  taxation  for  three  months  in  the  year.  A  State  super- 
intendent of  schools  was  chosen,  but  the  validity  of  his  election 
was  denied  by  a  military  order  of  General  Ord,  commanding  the 
military  district  in  which  Arkansas  was  situated,  and  the  super- 
intendent was  not  allowed  to  exercise  the  duties  of  his  office. 
Moreover,  military  authority  held  that  the  services  of  the  office 
were  unnecessary.  Some  schools  were  opened  under  the  new  law, 
however,  which  in  many  respects  became  the  basis  of  public-school 
education  in  Arkansas  and  provided  resources  which  made  pos- 
sible the  later  establishment  of  schools  in  that  State.  But  the 
sums  collected  for  school  purposes  at  this  time,  amounting  to 
about  $65,000,  later  served  as  handy  pocket  change  for  the 
reconstructionists. 

Alabama's  constitution  of  1865  ordered  the  enactment  of 
proper  laws  for  the  encouragement  of  schools  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  school  funds.  It  also  required  a  state  superintendent, 
county  superintendents,  and  local  trustees  for  the  supervision  of 
the  schools,  such  as  had  served  under  the  ante-bellum  organization. 
In  accordance  with  these  provisions  a  law  was  enacted  in  Febru- 
ary, 1867,  which  created  a  creditable  school  system  open  to 
"every  child  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty  years."  School 
officers  were  appointed,  and  the  schools  were  rapidly  being  brought 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR     315 

into  working  order  in  a  large  part  of  the  State  when  congressional 
reconstruction  began.  But  funds  provided  for  schools  were  used, 
by  reconstruction  legislation  of  1868  and  1869,  "to  meet  other 
pressing  debts  of  the  State,"  and  in  this  manner  were  diverted 
from  their  lawful  uses. 

Tennessee  undertook  the  rebuilding  of  its  school  system  in 
1865,  when  the  appropriate  legislative  committee  began  to  study 
the  school  systems  of  other  States.  In  that  year  appropriations 
were  made  for  public  schools,  and  shortly  afterward  legal  pro- 
visions were  made  for  the  schools  in  Memphis,  although  these 
provisions  were  substantially  a  reenactment  of  the  laws  of  1860. 
In  1866  the  ante-bellum  property  tax  for  school  purposes  was 
levied,  and  later  trjis  tax  was  raised  from  two  and  one-half  cents 
to  twenty  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars'  valuation,  which  in- 
creased the  available  school  funds  for  1867  to  about  $660,000. 
This  law,  which  originated  with  the  teachers'  association  of  the 
State,  was  very  advanced  and  contemplated  schools  for  both  races. 
It  provided  for  an  adequate  administrative  organization  and  for 
the  maintenance  of  schools  for  not  less  than  five  months  in  the 
year,  with  separate  schools  for  colored  children.  The  records  of 
the  legislative  bodies  from  1865  to  1867  show  considerable 
educational  interest  in  that  State.  But  the  popular  mind  was  con- 
fused, and  distrust  prevailed  everywhere.  Moreover,  there  was 
considerable  trouble  over  the  Bank  of  Tennessee,  in  which  the 
ante-bellum  literary  fund  was  invested  and  through  which  it  was 
eventually  lost. 

In  Mississippi  there  was  evidence  of  unusual  interest  in  schools 
for  both  white  and  colored  children.  The  attitude  of  the  conserva- 
tive element  on  the  subject  of  negro  education  was  very  liberal, 
and  as  early  as  1866  the  planters  were  urged  to  establish  schools 
on  their  farms  for  the  education  of  negro  children.  The  following 
year  the  State  teachers'  association  met  in  Jackson  and  advised 
that  public-school  facilities  be  provided  for  the  freedmen,  and 
such  facilities  would  likely  have  been  provided  by  the  native 
white  people  "had  not  the  'carpetbaggers'  forestalled  their 


3i6  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

action."  Several  newspapers  of  the  State  also  urged  provision 
for  negro  education  before  the  beginning  of  the  congressional 
plan  of  reconstruction  and  encouraged  Southern  men  in  that 
undertaking,  and  in  July,  1866,  it  was  stated  that  "organized 
plans  for  the  intellectual  improvement  of  the  negro  are  being 
generally  adopted  throughout  the  State."  A  school  for  colored 
children  was  in  operation  at  Holly  Springs  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  Judge  Watson,  and  Kinloch  Falkner,  a  former  secretary 
of  State  in  Mississippi,  was  one  of  the  teachers.  A  similar  school 
was  set  up  at  Oxford  by  Chancellor  Waddell  and  several  pro- 
fessors of  the  university  of  the  State.1  The  constitution  of  Texas 
of  1866  contemplated  and  provided  for  schools  for  negroes  as 
well  as  for  whites,  and  the  constitution  of  1,869,  known  as  the 
reconstruction  constitution,  did  not  materially  change  the  instru- 
ment of  1866  in  this  respect. 

In  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  other  States  there  appeared 
also  an  unexpected  interest  in  education  from  1865  to  1867,  and 
vigorous  efforts  were  generally  made  to  adjust  educational  plans 
to  the  changed  condition  of  the  times.  The  Legislature  of  Georgia 
in  December,  1866,  enacted  legislation  to  provide  for  a  general 
system  of  schools,  a  state  superintendent,  county  superintendents 
or  commissioners,  local  trustees,  and  for  support  by  a  county  tax 
supplemented  by  the  state  school  fund.  The  act  was  not  to  go 
into  effect,  however,  until  after  January,  1868,  postponement 
having  been  agreed  upon  on  account  of  the  poverty-stricken 
condition  of  the  people.  Before  that  time  the  congressional 
plan  of  restoring  the  South  was  set  in  motion.  Meantime  the 
Legislature  had  made  provisions  for  the  state  university,  and  in 
some  of  the  cities  of  the  State  the  organization  of  the  public 
educational  work  was  making  some  headway. 

Here,  as  in  other  States,  however,  the  uncertainty  of  the  legality 
of  its  acts  prevented  the  Legislature  from  making  more  definite 
enactments  for  schools.  The  ante-bellum  literary  funds  were  lost, 

1See  Noble,  Forty  Years  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Mississippi 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  317 

the  people  were  impoverished  as  a  result  of  the  war,  and  the 
former  means  of  school  support  were  cut  off  almost  entirely.  In 
some  cases  policies  of  economy  were  adopted.  In  the  main,  how- 
ever, the  leaders  of  the  period  recognized  the  changes  which  the 
result  of  the  war  had  produced  and  courageously  set  themselves  to 
the  task  of  readjustment ;  and  but  for  the  inauguration  of  the 
congressional  plan  of  restoring  the  South,  the  educational  needs 
of  both  white  and  colored  children  would  have  been  more  properly 
cared  for  during  the  years  following  the  war.  The  obstacles  to 
peace  and  good  order  could  have  been  more  easily  removed,  and 
the  public  schools — which  later  became  so  unpopular  because  of 
the  circumstances  which  surrounded  their  establishment — could 
have  grown  in  popular  favor  and  could  have  become  more  readily 
both  the  chief  pride  of  the  State  and  the  principal  means  of  solving 
the  great  problem  which  the  war  left  for  solution  to  the  white 
people  of  the  South. 

The  radical  members  of  Congress  triumphed  over  the  Demo- 
crats, the  moderate  Republicans,  and  the  president,  and,  on 
March  2,  1867,  passed  over  the  president's  veto  the  first  so-called 
reconstruction  act,  which  reduced  the  Southern  States  to  military 
provinces  and  set  up  in  them  the  rule  of  martial  law.  The  States 
were  divided  into  five  military  districts,  which  were  put  under 
Federal  military  commanders.  State  intervention  was  not  to  be 
permitted,  although  the  provisional  civil  administrative  power  of 
the  State  could  be  used  by  the  commanders  in  their  discretion. 
The  authority  and  rule  of  martial  law  were  to  continue  until  the 
people  of  the  "said  rebel  states"  formed  constitutions  in  con- 
formity with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  framed 
by  conventions  of  delegates  elected  by  the  male  citizens  of 
"twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upward  of  whatever  race,  color,  or 
previous  condition  .  .  .  except  such  as  may  be  disfranchised  for 
participation  in  the  rebellion,  or  for  felony  at  common  law." 
When  such  constitutions  had  been  framed,  ratified  by  the  elec- 
torate, and  approved  by  Congress,  and  when  the  legislative 
bodies  elected  under  the  new  constitutions  had  ratified  the 


318  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

proposed  Fourteenth  Amendment,  the  States  were  to  be  entitled 
to  representation  in  Congress  and  were  to  be  admitted.  Until  the 
States  were  reconstructed  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  this  act,  the 
civil  government  in  existence  in  them  was  "to  be  deemed  pro- 
visional only,  and  in  all  respects  subject  to  the  permanent  authority 
of  the  United  States  at  any  time  to  abolish,  modify,  control,  or 
supersede  the  same." 

A  supplementary  act  was  passed  March  23  "to  provide  for  the 
more  efficient  government  of  the  rebel  States "  and  to  facilitate 
their  restoration.  This  act  called  for  the  registration  of  all  men 
who  could  qualify  under  the  act  of  March  2  and  directed  the 
commanders  of  the  various  military  districts  to  order  an  election^ 
for  the  choice  of  delegates  to  a  constitutional  convention  of  each 
State.  The  purpose  of  these  two  acts  was  purely  political.  They 
were  formed  primarily  to  give  the  ballot  to  the  negro  in  the  ten 
Southern  States  which  had  rejected  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  their  operation  was 
incidental  to  this  one  object. 

The  election  of  delegates  to  the  constitutional  conventions  was 
held  by  order  of  the  commanders  of  the  various  military  dis- 
tricts, and  the  conventions  met  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1867- 
1868.  The  composition  of  these  bodies  was  altogether  unlike 
anything  ever  before  seen  in  the  South.  They  consisted  of  scala- 
wags, or  native  whites  who  were  out  of  sympathy  with  the  South 
and  who  favored  the  congressional  plan  of  restoration ;  carpet- 
baggers, Northern  men  who  went  South  after  the  war,  who 
favored  the  plan  of  Congress,  and  who  were  later  charged  with 
exploiting  the  people  and  seeking  private  gain ;  ignorant  negroes ; 
and  a  few  conservative  whites. 

In  the  Virginia  convention  there  were  2  2  native  negroes.  Thir- 
teen of  the  members  were  scalawags ;  14  came  from  New  York ; 
3  each  from  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  and  England ;  and  one 
'each  came  from  Maine,  Vermont,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Mary- 
land, Washington  City,  South  Carolina,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Canada.  The  "radicals"  numbered  72  and  the  "conservatives"  33. 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR     319 

Of  the  124  delegates  to  the  South  Carolina  convention  48 
were  white  and  76  were  negroes  (49  of  whom  were  South  Caro- 
lina blacks).  There  were  only  4  conservatives  in  the  convention. 
Of  the  white  delegation  23  were  native  South  Carolinians ;  others 
came  from  Massachusetts,  .North  Carolina,  England,  Georgia, 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Ireland,  Prussia,  and 
Denmark.  Twenty-three  of  the  entire  white  delegation  and  59 
of  the  negro  members  paid  no  taxes  whatever.  North  Carolina's 
convention  contained  120  radicals  and  13  conservatives.  Eight 
of  the  members  were  carpetbaggers  and  15  were  negroes. 

The  convention  in  Texas  consisted  of  12  conservatives  and  78 
radicals,  9  of  whom  were  negroes.  Florida's  convention  con- 
sisted of  46  delegates,  18  of  whom  were  negroes,  and  all  other 
members  were  scalawags  and  carpetbaggers  except  2  who  were 
conservatives.  The  negro  members  were  field  hands,  barbers, 
and  hack  drivers.  The  convention  in  Georgia  contained  37 
negroes,  12  conservatives,  9  carpetbaggers,  and  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  scalawags.  Mississippi's  body,  which  became  known  as  the 
"Black  and  Tan  Convention,"  had  only  19  conservatives  and 
107  radicals;  15  of  the  radicals  were  negroes,  18  were  carpet- 
baggers, and  the  others  were  scalawags.  The  Alabama  con- 
vention contained  2  conservatives  and  98  radicals,  of  whom 
1 8  were  negroes  and  38  carpetbaggers.  The  members  of 
this  body  were  described  as  "worthless  vagabonds — homeless, 
houseless,  drunken  knaves."  The  composition  of  the  conven- 
tions of  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
other  States. 

Conservative  opinion  of  these  bodies  was  expressed  in  some- 
what vigorous  terms  in  the  press  and  elsewhere  in  the  various 
States.  The  day  following  the  meeting  of  the  Virginia  convention 
the  Richmond  Dispatch*  spoke  editorially  of  it  as  having  been 
"elected  under  the  unconstitutional  reconstruction  laws  of  Con- 
gress. .  .  .  Created  by  fraud  and  outrage — outrage  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  every  principle  of  humanity,  and  every  dictate  of 
1  December  4,  1867. 


320  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

_^wisdenvjts  life  must  be  brief  and  its  deeds  die  with  it."  On  the 
same  daythat  the  North  Carolina  convention  met  the  Raleigh 
Sentinel  said: 

The  pillars  of  the  capitol  should  be  hung  in  mourning  today  for  the 
murdered  sovereignty  of  North  Carolina.  In  the  hall  where  have  been 
collected,  in  days  gone  by,  the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  virtue  of 
the  State,  there  assembles  this  morning  a  body  convened  by  an  order 
of  Congress,  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  in  utter  disregard  of  the  Constitution  of  North  Carolina,  a  body 
which,  in  no  sense,  as  a  whole,  represents  the  true  people  of  the  State, 
which  has  not  been  elected  according  to  our  laws  nor  chosen  by  those 
to  whom  those  laws  have  committed  the  right  of  suffrage.  In  the 
seats  which  have  been  filled  by  some  of  the  best  and  truest  sons  of 
North  Carolina,  will  be  found  a  number  of  negroes,  a  still  larger 
number  of  men  who  have  no  interests  or  sentiments  in  common  with 
our  people,  but  who  were  left  in  our  midst  by  the  receding  tide  of  war, 
and  yet  others  who  have  proven  false  to  their  mother  and  have  leagued 
with  her  enemies. 

//Nothing  so  well  illustrates  the  character  of  these  conventions 
as  the  debates  on  the  persistent  question  of  mixed  schools,  a  sub- 
ject which  arose  soon  after  the  committees  on  education  were 
appointed,  in  many  of  the  States  became  a  heated  issue  imme- 
diately, and  throughout  the  South  generally  had  a  far-reaching  and 
damaging  effect  on  the  subject  of  schools.  At  one_time_nr_ano,ther 
during  reconstruction  mixed  jchools  camein^ojLmoxe^orJess  con- 
sideration in  practically  all~the  Southern  States,  either  in  the 
conventknr~br  the  Legislature  and  somelimes  in  both.  A  few 
examples  will  serve  to  illustrate. 

In  Virginia,  where  legislation  which  looked  to  the  establishment 
of  mixed  schools  had  little  chance  of  passage,  the  matter  began 
to  be  warmly  discussed  as  soon  as  the  report  of  the  committee 
on  education  was  presented.  A  conservative  member  offered  as 
an  amendment  to  the  report  "that  in  no  case  shall  white  and 
colored  children  be  taught  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
house,"  and  this  amendment  greatly  agitated  the  negro  members, 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR     321 

one  of  whom  spoke  with  much  feeling.  He  "didn't  want  to  see 
no  such  claw  [clause]  in  the  constitution,  and  the  fust  thing  we 
knew,  der  would  be  similar  claws  regards  waship  [worship].  Ez 
fer  dis,  dere  was  worser  company  of  white  children  dan  he  wished 
his  children  to  be  wid ;  and  dese  was  secesh  children."  He  wanted 
"loil  [loyal]  school  and  loil  children,"  but  he  did  not  want  "dis 
claw  to  commodate  de  prejudices  of  rebels  and  seceshes,"  because 
he  regarded  himself  as  high  over  "a  rebel  and  traitor  ez  heaven  was 
over  hell." 

Another  negro  member  vehemently  opposed  "dis  old  slavery 
notion  of  having  two  school-houses  war  one  would  do."  Another 
member  proposed  the  amendment  that  the  public  schools  of  the 
State  should  be  free  and  open  alike  to  all  classes,  that  "no  child 
pubill  [sic]  or  scholar"  should  be  rejected  from  such  schools  on 
account  of  race,  color,  or  any  other  distinction,  and  that  the 
Legislature  should  not  have  "pour"  [power]  to  make  any  law  that 
would  admit  of  any  invidious  distinction.  Another  stated  that  the 
"questarn  was  equal  rights  and  justice  to  all  men,  erregardless 
of  race  and  color,"  though  he  did  not  wish  to  "detain  the  floor 
long,  as  you  all  knows  I  is  not  conversial  with  school  matters,  and 
am  new  in  de  issues  of  de  day."  Another  declared  that  if  the 
right  of  mixed  schools  were  not  guaranteed  to  the  negroes  the 
carpetbaggers  would  be  forced  to  pack  up  and  leave  the  State. 
In  urging  a  settlement  of  "dis  question  in  framing  the  organical 
law,"  he  urged  that  but  for  "de  bone,  and  de  sinews,  and  de 
muscle,  and  de  skin,  which  was  de  colored  people,  de  Rippublican 
party  would  hardly  be  a  skeleton."  The  protests  of  the  negro 
members  and  their  repeated  threats  to  divide  the  Republican 
party  on  the  issue  were  fruitless,  however,  and  the  proposed  pro- 
vision for  mixed  schools  failed  by  a  large  majority  to  be  inserted 
in  the  constitution.  The  subject  later  appeared  in  the  Legisla- 
ture when  the  school  law  was  being  framed,  but  it  met  the  same 
fate  there  as  befell  it  in  the  convention. 

The  case  was  different  in  South  Carolina,  where  the  committee 
on  education  reported  that  all  schools,  colleges,  and  universities 


322  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

of  the  State  supported  by  the  public  funds  should  be  free  and 
open  to  all  children  without  regard  to  race  or  color.  This  section 
of  the  report  was  referred  to  the  committee  for  further  considera- 
tion, but  it  emerged  later  substantially  unchanged.  The  debate 
was  heated.  In  discussing  the  mixed-school  plan  a  white  delegate 
who  favored  the  congressional  plan  of  reconstruction  pointed 
out  that  opposition  to  the  education  of  the  negro  was  rapidly 
dying  out  in  South  Carolina.  He  cited  as  evidence  measures  taken 
by  various  organizations,  conventions,  and  religious  conferences 
which  had  met  for  the  purpose  of  making  educational  provision 
for  the  children  of  the  negro  race.  Mixed  schools,  he  argued, 
would  not  increase  sympathy  for  but  hostility  to  the  education  of 
the  negro ;  moreover,  such  schools  would  be  attended  by  the 
colored  children  only.  A  negro  member  believed  that  the  negroes 
should  treat  the  white  people  with  leniency  and  charity,  as  a 
magnanimous  Christian  people  would  treat  their  former  enemies, 
but  such  liberality  needed  to  be  compatible  with  the  black  man's 
safety.  He  believed  that  no  distinction  should  be  made  in  the 
schoolhouse  and  in  the  church. 

The  debate  concluded  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  the 
Reverend  E.  L.  Cardozo,  a  negro  member  who  finally  became 
treasurer  of  the  State.   He  argued  that  the  whole  scheme  of  re- 
construction was  antagonistic  to  the  wishes  of  South  Carolinians 
fand  that  the  mixed-school  plan  was  a  legitimate  part  of  that 
/  scheme.    Race  prejudices  could  best  be  removed,  he  said,  by  forc- 
[^jflg*  the  white  children  and  the  negro  children  "  to  mingle  in  school 
together  and  to  associate  generally."   In  some  communities,  how- 
ever, it  might  be  necessary  to  provide  separate  schools,  but  for 
a  few  white  children  "to  demand  such  separation  would  be 
absurd,  and  I  hope  that  the  convention  will  give  its  consent  to 
no  such  proposition."   This  was  the  final  word  on  the  subject 
in  the  convention,  and  the  vote  gave  an  overwhelming  majority 
for  the  mixed-school  section. 

Referring  to  this  action  of  the  convention  in  his  message  to  the 
Legislature  in  July,  Governor  Orr,  who  was  retiring  from  office, 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR     323 

said  that  the  provision  for  mixed  schools  was  a  reckless  and 
dangerous  experiment  and  was  not  desired  by  the  negroes  or  the 
whites,  and  if  submitted  to  their  decision  the  provision  would 
have  been  completely  repudiated  by  both.  He  noted  also  the 
causes  for  bickering  and  controversy  already  existing  between  the 
two  people,  and  declared  that  "no  greater  cruelty  could  be  in- 
flicted by  legislation  upon  the  parents  of  the  children  of  the 
two  races,  than  that  which  is  contemplated  by  this  objectional 
feature  of  the  constitution."  Governor  Scott,  who  succeeded 
Orr,  shared  the  latter's  opinion  of  the  constitutional  provision  for 
mixed  schools  and  likewise  urged,  in  his  message  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, the  establishment  of  separate  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  State.  He  believed  the  separation  of  the  children 
\4n  the  public  schools  "a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  to  all 
classes  of  our  people."  Later  he  said: 

It  is  the  declared  design  of  the  constitution  that  all  classes  of  our 
people  shall  be  educated,  but  not  to  provide  for  this  separation  of  the 
two  races  will  be  to  repel  the  masses  of  the  whites  from  the  educational 
training  that  they  so  much  need,  and  virtually  to  give  our  colored 
population  the  exclusive  benefit  of  our  public  schools.  Let  us,  there- 
fore, recognize  facts  as  they  are  and  rely  upon  time  and  the  elevating 
influences  of  popular  education  to  dispel  any  unjust  prejudices  that 
may  exist  among  the  two  races  of  our  fellow  citizens. 

North  Carolina's  convention  failed  to  incorporate  in  the  con- 
stitution any  provision  either  for  or  against  mixed  schools,  al- 
though the  subject  was  debated  with  much  feeling.  In  the 
Legislature,  however,  numerous  efforts  were  made  by  the  radicals 
to  open  the  race  question.  One  member  endeavored  in  vain  to 
have  inserted  in  the  proposed  school  law  a  provision  to  prevent 
the  teaching  of  the  "doctrine  of  secession  and  of  the  lost  cause"; 
another  sought  to  prevent  the  teaching  of  "the  sentiments  em- 
bodied in  that  well-known  song,  'John  Brown's  Soul  is  Marching 
Along'";  another  desired  a  legal  provision  which  would  prevent 
any  colored  teacher  from  instructing  in  a  white  school ;  another 


324  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

proposed  a  provision  which  looked  to  preventing  white  teachers 
from  serving  in  negro  schools ;  and  still  another  proposed  "  that  no 
white  Democrat  should  teach  any  colored  girl."  Finally,  how- 
ever, provision  for  separate  schools  was  made  in  the  school  law  of 
I869.1 

Separate  schools  were  also  provided  for  in  Texas,  Arkansas, 
Tennessee,  and  Georgia,  and  in  Alabama  provision  was  made  for 
the  races  to  be  kept  separate  "unless  it  be  by  the  unanimous  con- 
sent of  the  parents  and  guardians."  The  schools  in  that  State 
did  not  suffer  so  much  from  foreign  exploitation  as  did  the  schools 
in  some  States.  Reconstruction  in  Georgia,  which  provided  for 
separate  schools,  was  also  marked  more  or  less  for  its  moderation. 
The  conservative  white  citizens  were  better  represented  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  State's  affairs,  and  there  were  fewer  reconstruc- 
tion evils  and  less  wanton  corruption  and  extravagance  in  public 
office.  The  constitution  left  provision  for  the  school  system 
very  largely  to  the  Legislature,  and  the  act  to  establish  schools 
was  initiated  chiefly  by  the  work  of  the  state  teachers'  associa- 
tion and  was  therefore  a  conservative  product. 

There  was  no  expressed  provision  for  separate  schools  in  the 
constitution  of  Mississippi,  and  the  establishment  of  mixed 
schools  was  probably  not  contemplated  in  it,  but  by  the  law 
of  July,  1870,  the  schools  were  opened  to  all  the  youth  of  school 
age  in  the  State  without  distinction.  No  efforts  seem  to  have 

aA  conservative  by  the  name  of  Love  from  Jackson  County  and  a  radical 
by  the  name  of  Moore  from  Carteret  County  engaged  in  a  heated  dis- 
cussion in  the  Senate  during  the  final  consideration  of  the  educational  bill. 
Love  reminded  the  body  that  the  gentleman  from  Carteret  was  not  in- 
terested in  the  affairs  of  North  Carolina  and,  besides,  was  a  carpetbagger. 
Moore  replied  that  the  gentleman  from  Jackson  was  a  liar.  The  gentleman 
from  Jackson  answered  that  the  gentleman  from  Carteret  was  not  just  an 
ordinary  liar,  but  a  damned  liar,  and  a  final  epithet  was  even  more  un- 
becoming a  gentleman  of  senatorial  rank.  The  encounter  grew  so  fierce  that 
the  presiding  officer  rebuked  the  senators,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  investigate  their  conduct.  But  the  records  do  not  show  which  one  of 
the  gentlemen  was  correct  in  his  contention.  See  Knight,  Public  School 
Education  in  North  Carolina,  pp.  233-234. 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR         ,325 

been  made,  however,  to  maintain  mixed  schools,  andonly  a  few 
were  reported  in  existence  in  the  State  during  this  period.  Under 
Louisiana's  constitution  all  children  of  school  age  in  that  State 
were  to  be  admitted  to  "the  public  schools  or  other  institutions 
of  learning  sustained  or  established  by  the  State  in  common,  with- 
out distinction  of  race,  color  or  previous  condition,"  and  the 
establishment  of  separate  schools  or  institutions  of  learning  ex- 
clusively for  any  race  by  the  State  was  made  illegal.  This  was 
perhaps  the  most  radical  step  taken  by  any  of  the  constitutional 
or  legislative  bodies  of  reconstruction,  and  opposition  to  it  was 
widespread  and  violent.  In  effect  mixed  schools  were  made  legal 
in  Florida  also. 

The  new  constitutions  varied  somewhat  in  details,  but  in  the 
^rnain  they  were  more  or  less  similar.  In  general  there  was  an 
expansion  of  educational  provisions  which  were  also  more  specific 
and  more  mandatory  than  were  the  ante-bellum  constitutional 
provisions.  The  sources  of  school  support  were  designated  and 
provision  was  made  Ibr^hTTeestabllsihmeiit  of  the  ante-bellum 
permanent  public-school  funds  and  for-4he  administrative  organ- 
ization of  educationToFthe  Legislatures  were  required  to  make 
such  provision.  Provision  was  also  made  under  the  new  constitu- 
tions for  the  education  of  the  negro,  for  whom  educational  oppor- 
tunity had  not  been  provided  before  the  war. 

The  provisions  for  uniform  systems  of  taxation  for  school 
support  were  perhaps  the  most  beneficial  of  all  the  constitutional 
requirements  for  education  in  the  South  during  the  reconstruction 
period.  The  State  and  local  administrative  organizations  which 
the  new  constitutions  provided  for,  however,  in  the  main  followed 
very  closely  and  showed  only  slight  advance  over  ante-bellum 
custom  in  the  South. 

The  constitution  of  Virginia  required  the  Legislature  of  that 
State  to  elect  a  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  who  was  to 
report  for  the  consideration  of  that  body  "within  thirty  days  after 
his  election  a  plan  for  a  uniform  system  of  free  public  schools." 
There  were  numerous  applicants  for  the  superintendency,  but 


326  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  Reverend  W.  H.  Ruffner,  who  was  ably  supported  by  General 
Robert  E.  Lee  and  other  prominent  Virginians,  was  selected  for 
the  position,  and  he  at  once  set  to  work  on  the  task  designated. 
A  plan  was  presented,  in  the  form  of  a  bill,  which  was  revised  by 
Professor  John  B.  Minor,  a  prominent  teacher  of  law  in  the 
University  of  Virginia,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Colonel  Ed- 
mund Pendleton  in  the  Senate  and  of  Major  Henderson  M.  Bell 
in  the  House  (both  conservatives)  it  became  law  in  July,  1870. 
/The  law  provided  for  State,  county,  and  local  supervision  for 
schools,  which  were  to  be  free  to  all  children  between  the  ages 
of  five  and  twenty-one  years  and  which  were  to  continue  for 
five  months.  Separate  schools  were  provided  for  the  colored 
children.  Normal  schools  were  also  to  have  a  place  in  the  plan, 
and  agricultural  and  graded  schools  were  to  be  provided.  The 
literary  fund  was  reorganized  and  secured  and,  in  addition  to  its 
income,  provision  was  made  for  a  capitation  tax  of  one  dollar  and 
a  property  tax  of  ten  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars'  valuation, 
with  optional  county  and  district  property  taxation. 

The  excellences  of  this  law,  now  celebrated  in  Virginia's  educa- 
tional history,  and  the  dispatch  with  which  it  was  prepared  are 
interesting  in  the  light  of  events  of  thirty  years  before.  In  Chap- 
ter VII  it  was  noted  that  an  educational  convention  was  held  in 
Lexington  in  1841  and  that  its  presiding  officer,  Dr.  Henry 
Ruffner,  presented  a  very  remarkable  plan  for  public  education  in 
Virginia.  That  plan  called  for  a  property  tax  for  school  support, 
a  modern-school  organization,  and  other  principles~oFe3ucational 
administration  now  universally  accepted  as~~sound.  The  plan 
which  Ruffner  presented  to  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  in  1870 
and  which  was  enacted  into  law  at  that  time  was  strikingly  simi- 
lar to  that  presented  by  his  father  in  1841.  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  the  younger  Ruffner  had  before  him  in  1870  the  plan  which 
the  elder  Ruffner  urged  thirty  years  earlier ;  certainly  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  earlier  plan  influenced  the  later  one.  It  should  be 
kept  in  mind,  therefore,  that  Virginia's  post-bellum  school  system 
was  planned  by  and  enacted  into  law  under  the  leadership  of 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  3^ 

native,  conservative  Virginians  and  that  it  was  set  on  its  way  to 
success  by  a  native,  conservative  Virginian  who  had  unwavering 
faith  in  the  power  of  state-supported  and  state-controlled  public 
education,  free  and  open  alike  to  all  classes.1 

The  new  school  law  in  North  Carolina,  which  was  almost  en- 
tirely the  product  of  the  Senate,  contained  provisions  for  school 
support  which  were  mandatory  and  less  discretionary  than  the 
provisions  of  earlier  acts.  In  most  respects,  however,  it  resembled 
ante-bellum  legislation.  Provision  was  -made  for  a  state  board  of 
education  similar  to  the  ante-bellum  literary  board,  but  with  more 
specific  powers,  and  for  county  and  township  school  officers  with 
duties  very  much  like  the  duties  of  similar  officers  before  1860. 
The  township  trustees  were  to  establish  and  maintain,  for  at  least 
four  months  in  every  year,  a  number  of  schools  at  convenient 
points  for  the  education  of  all  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and 
twenty-one.  They  were  also  required  to  provide  schoolhouses  and 
equipment,  'employ  and  dismiss  teachers,  visit  the  schools,  gather 
and  report  school  statistics,  and  give  attention  to  the  details  of 
local  educational  administration.  Provision  was  made  for  a  county 
examiner,  whose  duties  were  practically  the  same  as  those  of  the 
county  educational  officers  of  ante-bellum  days.  A  course  of  study 
was  prescribed  to  consist  of  reading,  writing,  spelling,  geography, 
and  English  grammar  and  "such  other  studies  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary."  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  State  and  county  capita- 
tion taxes  was  to  be  applied  to  public-school  support,  in  addition 
to  which  a  legislative  appropriation  was  made  to  assist  in  main- 
taining the  schools  for  four  months.  This  latter  source  of  school 
support,  however,  proved  to  be  only  a  "paper"  appropriation. 
With  the  exception  of  a  definitely  prescribed  school  term  and 
provisions  for  a  general  school  tax  and  for  the  education  of  the 
freedmen,  the  law  of  1869  was  practically  a  copy  of  the  law  of 
1839  and  its  revisions.2  It  became  the  basis  of  Virginia's  present 
school  system. 

1  Knight,  Reconstruction  and  Education  in  Virginia. 

2  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  chap.  xi. 


32S  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  bill  to  establish  a  school  system  in  South  Carolina  passed 
through  the  House  and  the  Senate  with  no  extraordinary  debate 
and  became  law  in  February,  1870.  For  the  first  time  in  its 
history  that  State  had  adequate  constitutional  and  legal  provi- 
sions for  public  schools.  A  state  board  of  education  was  created 
which  took  the  place  of  the  legislative  committee  on  education  of 
ante-bellum  days ;  provision  was  made  for  a  state  superintendent, 
an  office  which  did  not  exist  in  South  Carolina  before  the  war; 
and  county  school  commissioners,  county  examiners,  and  local- 
district  trustees  were  also  provided  for  and  their  respective  duties 
defined.  The  course  of  study  was  to  consist  of  "orthography, 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  English  grammar,  history 
of  the  United  States  and  of  this  State,  and  good  behavior." 
J.  K.  Jillson,  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  previously  been  in  the 
employ  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  became  the  first  superintendent 
under  the  new  regime. 

The  new  school  law  of  Arkansas  was  enacted  in  July,  1868. 
It  provided  for  a  state  superintendent  to  be  elected  by  the 
people  every  four  years,  at  an  annual  salary  of  $3  500,  and  a  cir- 
cuit superintendent  for  each  judicial  district  of  the  State  was  to 
be  appointed  by  the  governor  at  an  annual  salary  of  $3000.  These 
circuit  officers  were  to  report  annually  to  the  state  superintendent, 
to  have  supervision  of  all  school  matters  in  their  respective  dis- 
tricts, and,  with  the  state  superintendent,  to  form  a  state  board 
of  education.  The  counties  were  divided  into  local  districts, 
each  of  which  was  entitled  to  one  trustee  to  be  elected  by  popular 
vote  in  the  district  and  to  receive  two  dollars  for  each  day  actually 
employed  by  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  he  should  not  receive  remuneration  for  more  than 
ten  days'  services  annually.  The  interest  on  the  permanent 
school  fund  (which  was  reorganized),  a  general  property  tax 
which  had  begun  under  the  presidential  plan  of  reconstruction,  a 
uniform  capitation  tax,  and  an  optional  local  tax  constituted  the 
principal  sources  of  school  support.  Provision  was  also  made 
for  teachers'  institutes.  Teachers  had  to  take  oath  to  support 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  329 

honestly  and  faithfully  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  State 
and  to  encourage  all  other  persons  to  do  so,  never  to  countenance 
or  aid  in  the  secession  of  the  State  from  the  United  States,  to  incul- 
cate in  the  children  sentiments  of  patriotism,  and  to  perform 
faithfully  and  impartially  all  the  duties  of  their  office.  The  fol- 
lowing year  an  act  was  passed  by  which  special  school  districts 
could  be  created  in  towns  and  cities,  and  under  this  legislation 
urban  systems  were  organized  in  several  communities. 

The  school  law  enacted  by  the  first  reconstruction  Legislature 
of  Alabama  differed  but  little  from  earlier  legislation  in  that 
State.  The  constitution  had  placed  all  public  educational  inter- 
ests under  the  control  of  a  state  board,  which  was  given  rather 
large  legislative  powers.  The  acts  of  this  board,  when  approved 
by  the  governor — who  was  ex-officio  a  member  of  it — or  when 
reenacted  by  a  two-thirds  vote  in  case  of  executive  disapproval, 
were  to  have  full  legislative  force  unless  repealed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture. This  board  named  the  county  superintendents,  who,  in  turn, 
selected  trustees  for  the  local  schools  and  ordered  the  establish- 
ment of  public  schools  throughout  the  State  for  the  free  instruction 
of  all  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  twenty-one.  The  school 
system  proved  top-heavy  from  the  outset.  Large  powers  given 
the  central  board  proved  unpopular,  and  the  numerous  admin- 
istrative officers  from  design  or  otherwise  absorbed  large  parts 
of  the  school  funds  before  they  reached  the  schools.  Many  teach- 
ers in  practically  every  county  often  failed  to  receive  payment  for 
their  services,  and  as  early  as  1870  the  school  affairs  of  the  State 
were  condemned  as  "shameful  and  reprehensible." 

Florida's  new  constitution  and  the  school  law  of  January,  1869, 
made  rather  excellent  provisions  for  schools  in  that  State.  The 
various  sources  of  the  permanent  school  fund  in  existence  before 
the  war  were  redesignated,  and  provision  was  made  for  the  appli- 
cation of  the  income  to  public-school  support.  A  state  school 
tax  of  not  less  than  one  mill  on  the  dollar  was  to  be  levied,  and 
each  county  was  required  to  raise  by  taxation  not  less  than 
half  the  amount  which  it  received  from  the  general  school  fund. 


330  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Provision  was  made  for  a  state  superintendent,  for  county  super- 
intendents, and  for  local  trustees.  The  school  law  embodied  some 
of  the  best  features  of  earlier  educational  legislation,  but  with 
certain  adaptations  which  were  not  always  happy  and  wholesome. 
The  schools  were  to  be  open  and  free  to  all  children  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  twenty-one. 

The  new  school  law  of  Georgia,  approved  in  October,  1870, 
like  the  law  of  Virginia  and  of  Tennessee,  was  a  conservative 
product.  It  was  largely  the  work  of  a  committee  from  the  state 
teachers'  association,  a  representative  group  which  had  met  in 
Atlanta  in  August,  1869.  A  state  board  of  education  was  created, 
to  be  composed  of  certain  state  officers,  and  provision  was  made 
for  a  state  superintendent,  for  county  and  district  supervision, 
and  for  more  or  less  adequate  school  support.  The  schools  were 
to  be  free  to  all  children,  but  separate  schools  were  required  for 
negroes.  The  creditable  educational  efforts  made  in  Georgia 
before  congressional  reconstruction  began  helped  very  largely  to 
put  the  machinery  of  the  new  system  in  readiness  by  the  close 
of  1870,  but  it  was  not  until  1872,  when  the  conservatives  got 
practically  complete  control  of  the  state  government,  that  order 
was  restored  and  the  public  schools  were  put  in  general  operation. 
Until  that  time  the  available  school  funds  were  so  generally 
squandered  that  but  few  schools  were  maintained  and  with  only  a 
few  teachers.  Afterward,  however,  conditions  improved  and  the 
schools  slowly  came  to  occupy  their  rightful  position  in  the 
State. 

The  new  school  law  of  Louisiana  was  approved  in  March, 
1869,  in  conformity  to  the  new  constitutional  provisions.  A 
state  board  of  education  was  created,  to  consist  of  the  state 
superintendent,  one  member  from  each  congressional  district  in 
the  State,  and  two  members  from  the  State  at  large,  and  under 
this  board  the  management  and  control  of  public  schools  were 
placed.  The  State  was  divided  into  six  districts,  which  corre- 
sponded to  the  congressional  districts,  and  a  superintendent  was 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  331 

to  be  appointed  for  each  such  division.  The  state  board  was  em- 
powered to  appoint  local  school  directors  to  manage  and  control 
local  schools,  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  district  superin- 
tendents. A  general  property  tax  of  two  mills  on  the  dollar  was 
levied  for  school  purposes,  and  permission  was  given  local  com- 
munities to  vote  additional  taxes  when  necessary,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  such  taxes  should  not  exceed  five  mills  on  the  dollar. 
Separate  schools  were  prohibited,  and  all  children  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  twenty-one  years  were  to  be  educated  without 
distinction.  The  large  centralization  of  authority  in  the  state 
board  (which  took  from  the  people  the  power  of  determining  how 
the  local  schools  should  be  controlled),  insufficient  resources  for 
school  support,  and  indifference  and  often  bitter  opposition 
aroused  by  the  mixed-school  requirement  greatly  impaired  the 
success  of  the  school  system  in  this  State  during  the  early  years 
of  reconstruction. 

The  new  law  of  Mississippi,  enacted  in  July,  1870,  embodied 
the  provisions  required  by  the  constitution  of  the  previous  year. 
Provision  was  made  for  a  state  board  of  education,  a  state 
superintendent,  county  superintendents,  and  local  trustees ;  a  four 
months'  school  term  was  required  and  provision  was  made  for 
rather  liberal  school  support.  The  state  board  was  given  control 
over  the  school  lands  and  school  funds  and  the  power  of  appoint- 
ing the  county  superintendents.  Teachers'  institutes  were  to  be 
held  under  the  direction  of  the  state  superintendent,  who  was 
also  required  to  visit  annually  the  schools  of  each  congressional 
district.  Powers  of  supervising  the  local  schools  and  of  examining 
and  licensing  teachers  were  given  the  county  superintendents. 
Under  the  law  the  schools  were  to  be  free  and  open  to  all  chil- 
dren from  five  to  twenty-one  years  of  age  without  distinction. 
This  feature  of  the  system  met  with  violent  opposition  and  often 
produced  disastrous  results. 

Texas  emerged  from  the  war  with  its  resources  severely  crippled 
and  its  educational  enterprises  generally  demoralized.  As  noted 


332  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

above,  however,  its  constitutional  and  legal  provisions  under  the 
presidential  plan  of  restoration  undertook  to  restore  as  normal 
educational  conditions  as  the  stress  of  the  times  would  allow. 
The  reorganization  of  that  period  provided  for  the  legislative 
support  of  schools  and  contemplated  school  facilities  for  the 
negroes  and  an  adequate  administrative  organization.  The  consti- 
tution of  1869  did  not  materially  change  the  earlier  provisions 
except  in  providing  for  the  election  of  the  state  superintendent, 
after  the  first  term  of  office,  by  popular  vote  instead  of  by 
appointment  by  the  governor.  The  law  of  August  13,  1870, 
directed  that  schools  should  be  maintained  four  months  in  each 
year,  provided  for  county  and  local  officers,  for  the  examination 
and  certification  of  teachers,  for  a  form  of  compulsory  attendance 
of  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen  years,  and  allowed 
private  teachers  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the  school  fund 
in  districts  where  no  public  schools  were  set  up,  provided,  however, 
that  such  teachers  were  examined  and  certificated  by  the  county 
examiners.  For  public-school  support  there  was  to  be  set  aside 
one  fourth  of  the  state  revenue  from  taxation,  as  well  as  the 
annual  capitation  tax  of  one  dollar  and  the  income  from  the 
permanent  school  fund. 

Tennessee  was  readmitted  to  the  Union  in  July,  1866,  and  thus 
escaped  congressional  reconstruction,  but  a  division  of  sentiment 
prevented  a  continuous  domestic  peace  during  that  regime.  But 
the  new  school  law  enacted  in  March,  1867,  largely  the  work  of 
the  state  teachers'  association,  made  provisions  for  state,  county, 
and  district  organization  and  supervision,  for  a  state  board  of 
commissioners  to  care  for  the  school  fund,  and  for  additional  school 
support  by  capitation,  property,  and  other  taxes.  The  county 
superintendents  were  to  examine  and  certificate  teachers  and  per- 
form other  duties  usually  required  of  such  officers.  The  schools 
were  to  continue  five  months  each  year  by  general  support,  and 
logger  by  permissive  local  taxation. 

In  general  the  earlier  school  laws  enacted  under  the  new  consti- 
tutions were  more  specific  and  less  discretionary  in  character  than 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  333 


ante-bellum  educational  >gfc1a  tinn  had  been.  Provision  was  made 
for  uniform  methods  of  school  support  by  property  or  capitation 
taxation  or  both  and  by  optional  local~Taxatioirior~dennitely 
prescribed  school  terms,  for  state  and  local  taxation  and  admin- 
istrative organization,  for  courses  of  study,  for  reorganizing  the 
ante-bellum  school  endowments  or  literary  funds,  and  for  the 
examination  and  certification  of  teachers.  Many  of  these  pro- 
visions were  theoretical  and  nominal,  however,  and  the  legislation 
contained  other  defects  and  weaknesses  which  served  for  many 
years  to  delay  rather  than  to  promote  public  education  in  some 
of  the  States.  But  legislation  fpg.rt.ed  largely  under  conservative 
influence  —  as  was  the  case  in  Virginia  and  a  few  other  States  — 
was  usuallyjnore  jiearly  in  accord  with  the  needs  and  the  temper 
of  the  times  and  was  therefore  more  successful  in  operation. 

Legislative  enactments  alone  were  not  sufficient,  however,  for 
the  building  of  a  good  school  system.  Education,_which  was  now 
confrontedjy  new  and  peculiar  obstacles,  needed  more  than  laws 
and  constitutional  requirements  for  its  promotion  and  expansion. 
There  was  everywhere  in  the  South  at  this  time  a  sense  of  un- 
certainty  and  insecurity  which  was  produced  by  the  changed 
political  c^fichTions,  distressing  poverty,  and  the  inexperience, 
prejudice,  and  ignorance  of  those  in  control  of  affairs/^The  theory 
was  gaining  thatpublic  education  was  tg_b^unjversal^but  it  was 
difficult  to  make  that  a  guiding  principle  in  practice.  The  new 
status  of  liEe  negro,  whcThad  suddenly  been  given  a  prominent 
political  place  without  any  preparation  for  it,  and  the  constant 
dread  oflriixed  schools  proved  to  be  practical  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  public  educational  improvement^  These  and  other  condi- 
tions made  difficult  the  successful  work  of  the  schools  during 
reconstruction  and  even  for  several  years  following  the  close  of 
that  period.  We  now  turn  to  a  study  of  the  operation  of  the 
schools  during  that  time. 


334  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Why  was  public  education  such  a  discouraging  problem  to  the 
people  of  the  South  after  1865  ? 

2.  How  did  the  presidential  plan  of  reconstruction  differ  from  the 
congressional  plan?   What  effect  did  the  political  changes  of  those 
years  have  on  public  education  in  your  State  ? 

3.  Study  the  legislation  and  the  press  of  your  State  for  the  re- 
flection of  attitude  toward  public  education  between  1865  and  1868. 

4.  What  was  the  attitude  of  Southern  leaders  toward  the  educa- 
tion of  the  freedmen  during  those  years?    Give  evidence  that  your 
State  would  have  made  provision  for  their  education  if  the  presidential 
plan  of  reconstruction  had  been  successful. 

5.  Compare  the  educational  provisions  of  legislation  during  con- 
gressional reconstruction  with  those  of  the  ante-bellum  period  in  your 
State  for  (a)  school  support,  (6)  organization  and  administration  of 
schools,  (c)  supervision  of  schools,  (d)  training  of  teachers,  (e)  ex- 
amination and  certification  of  teachers,  (/)  curriculum  and  textbooks. 

6.  Why  was  the  question  of  mixed  schools  so  generally  agitated 
in  the  constitutional  conventions  and  legislative  bodies  of  reconstruction  ? 

7.  Show  how  public  education  was  promoted  in  your  State  during 
the  period   of   congressional  reconstruction.    In   what   ways   was   it 
retarded  ? 

8.  Show  how  it  was  natural  that  during  the  years  immediately 
following  the  close  of  the  war  inaccurate  statements  should  have  been 
made  concerning  the  extent  of  education  in  the  South  before  1860. 

9.  Why  was  the  South  looked  upon  as  a  promising  field  for  mis- 
sionary and  educational  effort  after  the  war?   What  effect  did  that 
attitude  have  on  public  education  in  those  States  then  and  later  ? 

10.  List  the  actual  educational  benefits  which  the  period  of  recon- 
struction made  in  your  State.   What  would  have  been  the  result  if 
the  white  leadership  of  your  State  had  been  free  to  act  without  any 
outside   interference    during   that   period?     Give    reasons    for   your 
opinion. 

11.  Should  the  Federal  government  have  aided  the  reorganization 
and  development  of  public  education  in  the  South  after  the  Civil 
War?    Give  reasons  for  your  answer. 


REORGANIZATION  AFTER  THE  WAR  335 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

• 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.    APPLETON,  The  American 

/  Annual  Cyclopedia  for  1867,  1868,  and  1869.  BARNARD,  The  American 
Journal  of  Education,  30  vols.  Hartford,  1855-1881.  Circulars  of  infor- 
mation, United  States  Bureau  of  Education :  BUSH,  History  of  Education 
in  Florida  (Washington,  1889)  ;  CLARK,  History  of  Education  in  Alabama 
(Washington,  1889)  ;  FAY,  History  of  Education  in  Louisiana  (Wash- 
ington, 1898) ;  JONES,  Education  in  Georgia  (Washington,  1889) ;  LANE, 
History  of  Education  in  Texas  (Washington,  1903) ;  MAYES,  History  of 
Education  in  Mississippi  (Washington,  1899) ;  MERIWETHER,  History  of 
Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina  (Washington,  1899) ;  MERRIAM,  Higher 
Education  in  Tennessee  (Washington,  1893) ;  SHINN,  History  of  Education 
in  Arkansas  (Washington,  1900) ;  SMITH,  History  of  Education  in  North 
Carolina  (Washington,  1888).  CALVIN,  Popular  Education  in  Georgia. 
Augusta,  1870.  DAVIS,  The  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Florida. 
New  York,  1913.  DUNNING,  Essays  on  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction. 
New  York,  1897.  DUNNING,  Reconstruction  Political  and  Economic.  New 
York,  1907.  ECKENRODE,  The  Political  History  of  Virginia  during  the  Re- 
construction (Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  History  and  Political 
Science).  Baltimore,  1904.  FICKLEN,  History  of  Reconstruction  in  Louisi- 
ana through  1868  (Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  History  and 
Political  Science).  Baltimore,  1910.  FLEMING,  Civil  War  and  Reconstruc- 
tion in  Alabama.  New  York,  1905.  FLEMING,  Documentaiy__History  of 
Reconstruction,  2  vols..  Cleveland,  1906,  1907.  GARNER,  Reconstruction  in 
Mississippi.  New  York,  1901.  GARNE^  fEd.),  Studies  in  Southern  History 
and  Politics  (inscribed  to  William  A.  Dunning).  New  York,  1914.  HAMIL- 
TON, Reconstruction  in  North  Carolina.  New  York,  1914.  HEATWOLE, 
History  of  Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  HOLLIS,  The  Early 
Period  of  Reconstruction  in  South  Carolina  (Johns  Hopkins  University 
Studies  in  History  and  Political  Science).  Baltimore,  1905.  HOWARD, 
Autobiography,  2  vols.  New  York,  1907.  Journals  of  the  House  and 
Senate  of  the  various  States.  KENDRICK,  The  Journal  of  the  Joint  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  on  Reconstruction.  New  York,  1914.  KNIGHT,  The  In- 
fluence of  Reconstruction  on  Education  in  the  South.  New  York,  1913.  \fc 
KNIGHT,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.*^*! 
KNIGHT,  "Reconstruction  and  Education  in  Virginia,"  in  the  South  Atlantic 
Quarterly  for  January  and  April,  1916.  KNIGHT,  "Reconstruction  and 
Education  in  South  Carolina,"  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for  October, 
1919,  and  January,  1920.  KNIGHT,  "Some  Fallacies  Concerning  the  His- 
tory of  Education  in  the  South,"  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for 
October,  1914.  MCCARTHY,  Lincoln's  Plan  of  Reconstruction.  New  York, 
1901.  MCDONALD,  Select  Statutes  and  Other  Documents  Illustrative  of  the 
History  of  the  United  States,  1861-1898.  New  York,  1903.  MCPHERSON, 


336  PUBLIC, EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  Political  History  of  the  United  States  of  America  during  the  Period 
of  Reconstruction,  3d  edition.  Washington,  1880.  NOBLE,  Forty  Years  of 
the  Public  Schools  of  Mississippi.  New  York,  1918.  POORE,  The  Federal 
and  State  Constitutions,  2  vols.  Washington,  1877.  Proceedings,  Peabody 
Board  Trustees,  for  1868  to  1877.  Cambridge,  annual  after  1867.  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  constitutional  convention  of  the  various  States.  Pub- 
lic documents  of  the  various  States  (including  reports  of  the  various 
state  officers,  messages  of  the  governors,  and  accompanying  papers). 
RAMAGE,  Local  Government  and  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina  (Johns  Hop- 
kins University  Studies  in  History  and  Political  Science).  Baltimore,  1883. 
RAMSDELL,  Reconstruction  in  Texas.  New  York,  1910.  Reports  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  the  various  States.  REYNOLDS, 
Reconstruction  in  South  Carolina.  Columbia,  1905.  SCOTT,  Reconstruc- 
tion during  the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  of  America.  Boston, 
1895.  THOMPSON,  Reconstruction  in  Georgia.  New  York,  1915.  THORPE, 
Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  7  vols.  Washington,  1909.  WALLACE, 
Carpetbag  Rule  in  Florida.  Jacksonville,  1888.  WEEKS,  "Calvin  Hender- 
son Wiley  and  the  Organization  of  the  Common  Schools  in  North  Carolina," 
in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1896-1897, 
Vol.  II.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Arkansas.  Wash- 
ington, 1912.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Alabama. 
Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Ten- 
nessee (examined  in  manuscript).  WILSON,  History  of  the  Reconstruction 
Measures  of  the  Thirty-Ninth  and  Fortieth  Congresses.  Hartford,  1868. 
WOOLEY,  Reconstruction  in  Georgia.  New  York,  1901. 


CHAPTER  X 
EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION 

Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  Constitutional  and  legal  provisions 
proved  to  be  insufficient  for  the  adequate  promotion  of  public  educa- 
tion, and  throughout  reconstruction  and  for  many  years  afterward  the 
schools  were  forced  to  struggle  for  their  existence. 

2.  FinanciaLdifficttkies.  diversion  of  school  funds,  and  the  agitation 
of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  were  among  the  obstacles  encountered  by 
public  education  in  Virginia. 

3.  The  schools  in  Georgia  were  also  afflicted  by  the  social  disorder 
and  upheaval  of  the  period;  the  requirement  for  mixed  schools  and 
certain  other  difficulties  prevented  educational  progress  in  Louisiana. 

4.  Bitterness  and  violence,  fraud  and  mismanagement,  reached  the 
schools  in  Florida  and  crippled  their  usefulness.   Public  education  was 
demoralized  in  Mississippi  by  similar  causes. 

5.  The  schools  "literally  died  of  starvation"  in  Arkansas;  political 
and  social  disorder  and  the  misapplication  of  school  funds  rendered 
the  school  system  "a  nullity  and  a  sham"  in  Tennessee,  and  similar 
conditions  prevailed  in  Texas,  with  like  results. 

6.  Lack  of  funds,  defective  legislation,  partisan  strife,  fraud  and 
extravagance,  brought  failure  to  the  schools  in  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Alabama.    But  here,  as  in  all  the  States,   there  was 
slight  promise  of  improvement  after  1876. 

7.  In  reaction  to  the  regime  of  riot  and  misgovernment  from  1868 
to  1876  partisan  political  feelings  continued  to  run  high  for  several 
years  following  the  undoing  of  reconstruction.    Again  the  schools  were 
subordinated  to  less  worthy  interests  as  a  result  of  ills  which  had  their 
beginnings  in  reconstruction. 

It  was  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  during  the  early 
years  of  congressional  reconstruction  the  legal  provisions  for 
schools  in  the  South  were  improved.  This  reform  appeared,  how- 
ever, not  only  in  the  Southern  States.  In  other  sections  of  the 

337 


338  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

country  during  the  same  time  constitutional  provisions  for  schools 
were  revised,  school  legislation  was  improved,  and  provisions  for 
better  educational  facilities  were  generally  made.  The  educa- 
tional changes  of  the  period  were  not  confined  to  any  section. 

But  public  education  in  the  South  required  for  its  adequate 
promotion  more  than  constitutional  and  legislative  provisions  for 
financial  support  and  administrative  direction.  Important  as 
such  provisions  were,  they  were  insufficient  for  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions of  the  time.  Confidence  needed  to  be  restored,  the 
x  |  principle  of  public  education  for  the  children  of  all  classes  and 
of  both  races  needed  to  be  firmly  established  in  the  public  mind, 
and  the  men  and  women  of  the  South  needed  to  have  their 
faces  turned  toward  the  future.  Here  is  the  point  at  which  educa- 
tional reconstruction  in  the  South  failed ;  and  in  this  failure 
appeared  the  chief  cause  of  complaint  against  the  activities  of 
the  time  and  the  chief  explanation  of  the  educational  lethargy 
in  the  South  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  afterwards. 

Throughout  those  subsequent  years  the  iniquities  of  recon- 
struction were  keenly  felt  in  education,  and  the  public  schools 
literally  struggled  for  their  existence.  Defective  legislation,  de- 
fective organization  which  wore  for  many  years  the  color  of 
partisan  politics,  and  the  deadening  of  public  interest  through  the 
unwarranted  agitation  of  the  new  position  of  the  negro  were 
among  the  unwholesome  and  peculiar  conditions  which  retarded 
the  growth  of  public  education.  These  obstacles  appeared  early, 
and  some  of  them  have  not  yet  been  removed.  Their  harmful 
influence  in  the  various  Southern  States  will  appear  in  this  brief 
treatment  of  the  operation  of  the  schools  during  and  for  several 
years  following  reconstruction. 

It  was  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the  school  system 
set  up  in  Virginia  during  reconstruction  was  largely  the  work  of 
the  conservative  element  of  that  State,  even  though  membership 
in  the  constitutional  convention  and  in  the  early  Legislature  was 
largely  radical.  That  plan,  however,  met  with  many  obstacles. 
Strong  sentiment  favoring  church  schools,  apparent  hostility  of 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       339 

the  well-to-do  toward  public  schools,  the  poor  economic  condition 
of  the  State,  and  the  element  of  charity  which  the  poorer  classes 
saw  in  a  public-school  system  all  served  as  difficulties  to  confront 
Superintendent  Ruffner.  But  he  began  his  work  at  once.  County 
superintendents  and  local  trustees  were  appointed  and  were  given 
instructions  by  means  of  letters,  circulars,  and  through  the 
columns  of  the  Educational  Journal,  a  magazine  established  in 
1869  as  the  organ  of  the  Virginia  Educational  Association. 
Schools  were  organized,  the  school  census  taken,  teachers  were 
examined  and  commissioned,  and  by  1871  the  administrative 
part  of  the  school  machinery  was  in  large  measure  ready  for 
operation.  But  as  late  as  January,  1871,  all  the  public-school 
money  was  not  available,  and  in  fully  half  the  counties  of  the 
State  schools  were  forced  to  open  by  means  of  private  subscription. 
Not  a  few  of  the  schools  thus  supported  previously  existed  as 
private  schools.  They  were  now  adopted  as  public  schools,  though 
the  teachers  continued  to  receive  remuneration  from  their  patrons 
as  well  as  from  public  funds.  This  combination  of  private  and 
public  funds  proved  a  very  popular  means  of  school  support. 

The  sudden  demand  for  teachers  made  the  problems  ot  their 
supply  very  difficult.  But  Ruffner  believed  that  the  reverses 
which  had  come  to  so  many  of  "our  most  cultivated  people  were 
incidentally  converted  into  blessings  to  the  children  of  the  State 
by  furnishing  a  large  number  of  accomplished  teachers."  The 
qualifications  of  most  of  the  teachers  were  not  always  what  could 
have  been  desired,  because  many  communities  were  unable  to  pay 
salaries  sufficient  to  secure  the  best  talent  available.  It  was  very 
difficult  to  secure  teachers  for  the  negro  schools,  but  there  seems 
to  have  been  no  disposition  to  discriminate  against  the  education 
of  the  negro,  even  though  a  radical,  political,  and  social  change 
had  suddenly  taken  place.  In  many  places  the  white  people,  who 
had  greater  means,  often  voluntarily  contributed  enough  to  open 
a  "proportionate  number  of  schools  for  the  colored." 

The  increase  in  schools,  teachers,  and  enrollment  during  the 
first  two  years  of  the  new  system  was  encouraging  to  the 


340  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

superintendent.  "Considering  the  embarrassments  under  which  the 
mighty  work  of  universal  education  was  begun  and  has  been  con- 
tinued," he  said,  "we  have  reason  to  thank  God  and  take  courage." 
But  attendance  decreased  during  the  third  year,  on  account  of  bad 
roads,  bad  weather,  contagious  and  epidemic  diseases,  poverty,  and 
the  unwillingness  of  parents  to  continue  to  send  their  children  to 
teachers  who  were  found  to  be  incompetent.  "Whenever  school 
officers  committed  the  error  of  unduly  multiplying  schools,  thus 
rendering  it  necessary  to  employ  'cheap'  teachers,"  said  Rufmer, 
"there  is  no  reason  to  go  beyond  this  fact  in  search  of  a  reason 
for  a  decline  in  numbers."  At  the  same  time  he  declared  that  the 
more  promptly  the  people  would  manifest  their  disapprobation  of 
poor  schools  and  poor  teachers,  "the  sooner  can  we  bring  our 
school  system  up  to  a  high  degree  of  efficiency."  This  principle, 
which  is  as  sound  now  as  it  was  then,  the  South  has  never  yet 
fully  adopted.  And  only  by  its  complete  acceptance  can  the 
schools  in  that  region  achieve  their  full  purposes. 

Lack  of  facilities  for  teacher-training  was  another  weakness 
of  the  school  system.  The  constitution  required  the  Legislature  to 
establish  normal  schools  "as  soon  as  practicable,"  but  this  mandate 
was  not  being  observed.  There  were  two  normal  schools  for 
negroes,  one  at  Richmond  and  one  at  Hampton,  both  largely 
supported  by  contributions  from  the  North  and  supplied  with 
well-trained  teachers  who  were  instructing  more  than  three  hun- 
dred pupils.  But  no  provision  had  yet  been  made  for  the  white 
teachers  of  the  State,  few  if  any  of  whom  had  received  any 
professional  training.  Ruffner  greatly  deplored  this  neglect  and 
pointed  out  that  the  schools  were  filled  with  "raw  apprentices,  who 
must  of  necessity  do  a  great  deal  of  bad  work.  How  long  is  this 
wretched  economy  to  continue  ?  How  long  are  the  children  of  the 
State  to  be  denied  the  advantages  of  really  good  teaching  ?  Why 
use  the  last  dollar  to  multiply  schools  when  we  are  already  wasting 
money  on  hundreds  of  schools  that  are  worth  nothing?  When 
shall  the  idea  be  fastened  in  the  public  that  it  is  not  schools  we 
are  after,  but  education  ?  We  are  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  school 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       341 

system,  and  yet  not  a  dollar  of  public  funds  has  been  spent  on 
teachers.  The  constitution  requires  that  normal  schools  shall  be 
established  as  soon  as  practicable.  It  has  been  practicable  to  do 
something  in  this  direction  from  the  beginning.  We  have  been 
working  with  dull  tools  in  order  to  save  the  cost  of  a  grindstone !  " 

He  repeatedly  urged  the  establishment  of  at  least  one  normal 
school  and  urged  provision  by  which  counties  could  expend  $100 
or  $200  a  year  to  secure  competent  instructors  for  their  teachers 
in  institutes,  but  nothing  had  yet  come  of  the  recommendation. 
Bills  on  the  subject  were  occasionally  introduced  in  the  Legis- 
lature, but  lack  of  effective  public  sentiment  resulted  in  their 
failure  of  passage.  This  neglect  of  providing  for  the  training  of 
teachers  was  widely  felt.  "The  number  of  applicants  now  is  too 
small,  and  the  grade  of  their  qualification  too  low,  to  excite  whole- 
some emulation,"  said  one  county  official;  and  another  declared 
that  the  supply  of  teachers  was  very  largely  confined  to  that 
class  who  adopted  teaching  to  "  eke  out  a  support." 

Another  obstacle  to  public  education  appeared  in  the  reaction 
which  was  largely  produced  by  a  diversion  of  the  school  funds 
between  1870  and  1876.  In  his  sixth  annual  report  Ruffner  re- 
ferred to  the  tardiness  with  which  the  funds  were  paid  over  to  the 
schools.  For  more  than  a  year  he  was  active  in  his  efforts  to 
secure  legislative  attention  to  this  condition,  to  have  the  funds 
restored,  and  to  make  impossible  the  continuance  or  future  recur- 
rence of  such  diversion  of  money  so  sacredly  dedicated  by  both 
constitution  and  law  to  purposes  of  public  education. 

The  difficulty  was  of  a  complicated  nature  and  revealed  the 
defects  of  reconstruction  legislation.  The  constitution  had  im- 
posed on  the  Legislature  the  duty  of  applying  the  capitation  and 
certain  property  taxes  to  school  support ;  the  Legislature  obeyed 
'the  constitution  on  this  point,  fixed  the  capitation  tax  at  one  dollar, 
and  imposed  a  property  tax  of  one  mill  on  the  dollar.  By  an  act 
of  March  30,  1871,  known  as  the  funding  bill,  which  provided 
for  funding  and  paying  the  public  debt,  holders  of  state  bonds 
could  exchange  them  for  new  bonds  whose  coupons  were  to  be 


342  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

"receivable  for  all  taxes,  dues,  debts  and  demands  due  the  State." 
By  act  of  March  7,  1872,  which  was  neither  approved  nor  vetoed 
by  the  governor,  the  act  of  March  30, 1871,  was  repealed;  the  cou- 
pons were  no  longer  to  be  receivable  for  taxes,  but  taxes  were  to  be 
paid  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  United  States  treasury  notes,  or  notes 
of  the  national  banks  of  the  United  States,  and  officers  were  for- 
bidden to  receive  anything  else  for  them.  Thus,  by  the  constitution 
and  law  of  the  State  a  certain  amount  of  revenue  at  a  fixed  rate 
was  to  be  raised  and  applied  to  education.  By  subsequent  legisla- 
tion such  revenue  could,  to  the  extent  of  the  coupons  issuable,  be 
paid  in  tax-receivable  coupons.  A  later  act  made  it  necessary  to 
pay  taxes  in  money. 

Suit  was  soon  instituted  to  compel  officers  in  Richmond  to 
receive  coupons  for  taxes,  and  the  circuit  court  issued  a  mandamus 
requiring  a  sheriff  to  receive  the  coupons,  thus  recognizing  the 
act  of  March  30,  1871.  The  case  was  appealed  and  the  decision 
given  in  December,  1872.  The  court  held  that  the  act  of 
March  30,  1871,  constituted  a  contract  on  the  part  of  the  State 
which  subsequent  legislation  could  not  impair;  that  the  act  of 
March  7,  1872,  was  unconstitutional  in  that  a  State  could  not 
make  laws  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts;  and  that  the 
act  of  March  30,  1871,  was  not  in  conflict  with  the  constitution 
of  the  State,  which  dedicated  certain  revenue  to  public-school 
purposes. 

On  this  last  point  the  court  held  that  the  interest  on  the  bonds 
of  the  State  could  be  paid  in  the  manner  prescribed  and  the 
provisions  for  schools  still  be  respected,  and  suggested  an  in- 
crease in  taxation  if  the  existing  rate  proved  insufficient.  "The 
obligation  to  provide  for  the  interest  due  by  the  coupons  is  as 
high  as  the  duty  of  applying  the  capitation  tax  and  other  funds 
to  the  schools.  Both  duties  are  alike  obligatory,  and  both 
be  discharged  as  there  is  no  conflict  between  themT^It^veas  only 
by  a  failure  to  discharge  the  one  that  the  performance  of  the  other 
could  be  put  in  jeopardy ;  and  the  Legislature,  by  faithfully  and 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       343 

fearlessly  meeting  both  obligations,  was  expected  to  preserve  the 
"plighted  faith  of  the  State  and  protect  her  constitution  from 
violation." 

Later,  when  motion  was  referred  for  a  rehearing  of  the  case, 
a  member  of  the  court  took  occasion  to  say  that  if  it  were  im- 
practicable to  raise  sufficient  revenue  for  both  the  state  debt  and 
the  schools,  the  latter  did  not  "impose  an  obligation  on  the 
Legislature  paramount  to  the  obligation  to  provide  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  interest  on  the  public  debt.  That  was  an  obligation 
antecedent  and  paramount  to  the  constitution  itself,  and  could 
not  be  repudiated  by  the  constitution,  if  it  had  so  provided  .  .  . 
and,  furthermore,  this  being  an  obligation  of  debt,  and  not 
eleemosynary  in  its  character,  as  are  the  other  provisions  referred 
to,  however  desirable  and  important  it  may  be  that  they  should 
be  carried  out,  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  this  is  of  higher  obligation. 
A  man  must  be  just  before  he  can  be  generous." 

The  dissenting  member  of  the  court  held  that  the  constitutional 
provision  for  school  support  had  been  violated  and  that  the  Legis- 
lature had  no  right  to  apply  to  the  state  debt  "a  fund  sacredly 
dedicated  to  the  cause  of  education."  He  cited  supreme-court 
decisions  of  Iowa  and  California  to  support  his  opinion  "that 
whenever  the  Legislature  raises  a  fund,  by  taxation  or  otherwise, 
for  the  support  of  common  schools,  it  cannot,  by  any  contempo- 
raneous or  subsequent  legislation,  divert  the  fund  to  a  different 
purpose" ;  and  that  school  revenue,  when  collected,  by  force  of  the 
constitution  became  inviolably  appropriated  to  school  purposes. 
The  practical  operation  of  the  funding  bill,  in  his  opinion,  defeated 
the  object  of  the  constitution  in  regard  to  schools. 

Another  case  further  illustrated  the  actual  situation.  James 
Clarke  was  fined  $30  in  the  Hustings  Court  of  Richmond  and  in 
payment  of  the  fine  offered  a  $30  coupon,  which  the  court  refused. 
On  failure  to  pay  in  money  Clarke  was  placed  in  jail.  Ap- 
plication for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  made  to  the  supreme 
court,  and  the  prisoner  was  discharged.  The  case  brought  up  the 


344  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

question  of  the  payment  in  coupons  of  fines  which  were  expressly 
set  apart  for  educational  purposes.  The  decision  of  the  court  was 
based  on  the  principle,  given  in  the  case  described  above,  that 
the  act  of  March  30,  1871,  was  constitutional.  The  court  held 
that  the  school  funds  were  sacred  and  the  duty  to  education  was 
paramount,  but  however  sacred  and  high,  such  an  obligation 
should  not  be  met  at  the  sacrifice  of  other  obligations.  "The 
people  must  be  educated,  but  they  must  not  be  educated  at  the 
price  of  repudiation  and  dishonor.  Better  would  be  ignorance 
than  enlightenment  purchased  at  such  a  fearful  price."  The  dis- 
senting justice  argued  as  before.  He  saw  no  difference  between 
a  law  which  applied  fines  directly  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the 
public  debt  and  one  which  gave  authority  for  the  payment  of  such 
fines  in  coupons ;  he  held  that  the  Legislature  could  not  divert  a 
fund  from  its  constitutional  purpose  and  justify  its  conduct  by 
depending  on  some  future  Legislature  to  provide  the  deficiency  by 
taxation.  "It  is  the  duty  of  the  Legislature,  by  taxation,  to  pay 
the  public  debt.  If  it  fails  to  do  so,  it  cannot  justify  its  action 
by  giving  to  the  creditor  a  fund  not  under  its  control." 

It  will  be  seen  that  from  the  outset  there  would  be  considerable 
difficulty  in  paying  to  schools  the  funds  they  were  entitled  to 
receive.  When  the  taxes  were  to  be  paid  partly  in  coupons,  how 
could  the  schools  receive  money?  Moreover,  there  was  no  au- 
thority to  reissue  the  coupons,  but  they  were  ordered  canceled; 
and  the  system  of  bookkeeping  in  use  made  it  difficult  to  show  the 
proportionate  share  of  revenue  belonging  to  schools.  The  revenue 
came  into  the  treasury  in  money  and  coupons  in  the  proportion 
of  nearly  half  and  half.  Probably  more  than  $250,000  of  school 
funds  was  annually  absorbed  by  the  coupons.  The  school  funds 
were  not  paid  into  the  treasury  separately,  but  in  common  with 
other  revenue ;  but  all  expenditures  were  made  only  on  the  war- 
rant of  the  auditor,  and  the  schools  got  what  was  left  after 
warrants  had  been  drawn  for  other  governmental  expenses.  The 
auditor  in  his  annual  report  stated  the  amount  of  money  he 
had  turned  over  to  the  schools  without  stating  how  much  had 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       345 

actually  been  received  for  education.  By  an  act  of  March,  1873, 
he  was  ordered  to  pay  in  cash  all  money  for  school  purposes.  But 
fiscal  complications  were  even  then  not  avoided  and  the  difficulty 
was  not  removed,  because  the  amount  paid  in  coupons  was  such  a 
large  part  of  the  total  revenues  that  the  actual  cash  received  was 
not  sufficient  to  pay  the  schools  their  share  except  at  the  expense  of 
other  interests  equally  as  sacred  perhaps  as  education. 

The  diversion  of  funds  did  not  become  generally  known  until 
January,  1876.  Superintendent  Ruffner  constantly  sought  official 
statement  of  the  actual  amount  diverted  and  endeavored  to  have 
a  bill  enacted  which  would  give  him  authority  to  obtain  this 
information,  but  the  bill  died  in  the  hands  of  the  committee.  The 
vitality  of  the  school  system  was  therefore  put  in  the  greatest 
jeopardy.  A  later  report  and  demand  of  the  superintendent  led 
directly  to  senate  inquiries. 

Different  official  statements  disagreed  as  to  the  actual  amounts 
due  the  schools.  The  superintendent  believed  that  $1,113,000 
at  least  had  been  diverted.  Delinquent  revenues  due  by  de- 
faulting officers  were  said  to  be  numerous,  some  of  which  had  to 
be  collected  by  suits  and  were  therefore  naturally  subject  to  all 
delays  incident  to  litigation.  Some  were  lost  by  the  insolvency  of 
the  officers,  and  still  others  were  abated  or  compromised  by  special 
acts  of  the  Legislature.  Much  of  the  actual  revenue  came  after 
considerable  delay,  irregularly  and  in  very  small  sums.  Moreover, 
a  large  amount  had  been  lost  to  the  schools  by  an  injunction  of 
a  Federal  court  which  suspended  a  certain  law  on  liquor  taxation. 
The  amount  due  schools  was  thus  gradually  increasing.  More 
than  $1,000,000  was  due  from  the  assessed  revenue  for  schools, 
about  $78,000  was  due  from  certain  corporation  taxes,  more  than 
$380,000  was  due  on  arrears  of  interest  on  the  literary  fund,  and 
$40,000  was  due  on  fines,  making  a  total  of  about  $1,500,000  due 
and  unpaid  to  the  schools  of  the  State  during  the  first  eight  years 
of  the  new  system. 

A  large  curtailment  in  the  operation  of  the  schools  was  the  re- 
sult, and  the  effect  was  very  damaging.  Reports  from  many  of 


346  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  counties  showed  considerable  dissatisfaction  and  discontent 
with  the  system,  and  the  opponents  of  public  education  industri- 
ously made  use  of  the  diversion  of  funds  to  awaken  complaints 
among  those  who  were  ignorant  of  the  operation  of  the  schools 
and  impatient  for  their  perfection.  When  the  dark  days  came 
in  1878  and  1879,  schools  were  temporarily  suspended  in  many 
places,  and  in  others  the  term  was  considerably  decreased.  Teach- 
ers were  not  paid,  or  their  warrants  went  begging  for  buyers 
at  large  discounts.  There  was  general  relaxation  of  educational 
effort.  Nearly  100,000  children  were  kept  from  school ;  in  Rich- 
mond alone  1000  children  were  unable  to  enter.  The  mischief 
of  the  condition  was  brought  home  to  the  people  generally  and  with 
a  keenness  which  excited  extensive  discontent  and  which  showed 
itself  in  various  legislative  petitions  from  1876  to  1879. 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  no  censure  for  these  conditions 
attached  to  the  state  officers.  The  root  of  the  unfortunate  matter 
was  in  the  defective  legislation  of  the  early  years  of  reconstruction 
and  the  defects  of  the  accounting  system  of  the  State.  The  fund- 
ing bill  was  probably  passed  precipitately  in  consequence  of  certain 
exaggerated  estimates  of  the  resources  of  the  State.  Moreover, 
it  was  generally  believed  that  the  bill  was  passed  by  "  unwarrant- 
able means"  and  in  direct  violation  of  the  will  of  the  people. 
Whether  the  framers  of  the  law  were  consciously  and  deliberately 
guilty  of  fraud  is  difficult  to  determine,  but  it  seems  certain  that 
they  there  planted  some  seeds  of  repudiation  from  which  they 
may  have  had  faint  hope  later  to  reap  bountifully. 

As  early  as  1876  it  was  evident  that  the  force  of  the  will  of  the 
people  was  at  work.  The  men  and  party  that  had  failed  in  their 
opportunity  to  foster  education  "were  tried  and  condemned  at 
the  bar  of  public  opinion,  and  removed  from  power  by  the  verdict 
of  the  people.  .  .  ."  This  popular  sentiment  was  manifested  the 
following  year,  when  a  Legislature  was  elected  pledged  to  restore 
to  the  schools  the  funds  which  had  been  used  for  other  purposes. 
The  result  of  the  election  also  showed  that  the  people  were  ready 
to  indorse  the  other  principle  involved,  "that  in  the  settlement 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       347 

of  the  public  debt  there  must  be  no  compromise  of  the  honor  of 
the  State — no  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  the  public  creditor." 

The  Legislature,  which  was  largely  conservative,  immediately 
took  steps  to  ascertain  the  causes  of  the  deficiency  in  the  school 
funds  and  how  the  money  could  be  restored,  and  by  joint  resolu- 
tion the  auditor  was  directed  to  pay  to  the  literary  fund  the 
amounts  due  the  public  schools.  A  similar  resolution  had  been 
introduced  in  the  session  of  1876-1877,  but  no  effectual  relief 
was  secured  until  the  act  of  March  14,  1878,  which  required 
the  auditor  to  return  the  arrearages  due  the  school  fund  in  $15,000 
quarterly  installments,  beginning  July  i,  1878,  and  to  continue 
without  "  further  order,  demand,  or  requisition,  until  full  payment 
shall  have  been  made  of  all  arrearages  due  from  the  capitation 
and  property  taxes  set  apart  by  mandate  of  the  constitution  and 
law  of  the  state  for  the  support  of  the  public  free  school  sys- 
tem. .  .  ."  By  subsequent  legislation  these  quarterly  installments 
were  increased  to  $25,000.  At  the  same  session  legislation  com- 
monly known  as  the  "Barbour  Bill"  was  passed,  prescribing  the 
manner  in  which  school  funds  should  be  collected  and  requiring 
them  to  be  paid  to  the  literary  fund  and  used  only  for  education. 
By  this  act  certain  percentages  of  the  taxes  were  to  be  collected 
in  money  and  twenty-five  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars  were  to 
go  to  support  the  government,  ten  cents  to  support  schools,  and 
fifteen  cents  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  public  debt,  the  right  to 
use  coupons  within  the  limit  of  these  percentages  being  distinctly 
stated.  Governor  Holliday  vetoed  the  bill  March  i,  1878,  and 
the  veto  was  later  sustained  by  the  Legislature. 

The  governor  gave  reasons  for  vetoing  the  measure:  "Instead 
of  bringing  peace,  it  is  challenging  war  between  the  State  and 
its  creditors,  and  keeping  alive  in  bitterness  a  thing  which  has 
already,  by  its  agitation,  cost  more  than  its  whole  sum  to  the 
material  interests  and  welfare  of  the  commonwealth."  The  matter 
should  no  longer  be  kept  in  controversy.  In  the  second  place 
the  governor  denied  "that  the  legislature  is  bound  to  support 
the  free-school  system  at  the  expense  of  the  Spate's  creditors  .  .  . 


348  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

public  free  schools  are  not  a  necessity.  The  world,  for  hundreds 
of  years,  grew  in  wealth,  culture,  and  refinement,  without  them. 
They  are  a  luxury,  adding,  when  skillfully  conducted,  it  may  be, 
to  the  beauty  and  power  of  a  State,  but  to  be  paid  for,  like  any 
other  luxury  by  the  people  who  wish  their  benefits.'1  He  pro- 
nounced the  bill  "  a  proclamation  of  war  against  those  to  whom  we 
are  in  debt." 

His  argument  was  not  unlike  that  used  by  other  officials  who 
jealously  guarded  the  State's  credit.  So  eager  were  some  of  them 
to  save  the  credit  of  the  State  that  their  reasoning  could  easily 
be  interpreted  as  displaying  an  attitude  somewhat  hostile  to  edu- 
cation, though  such  was  hardly  the  case.  The  auditor  believed 
that  all  claims  which  were  authorized  and  directed  to  be  paid 
were  equally  entitled  to  their  proportionate  share  of  the  currency, 
and  he  saw  no  reason  why  the  schools  should  be  an  exception  to 
this  principle.  In  December,  1877,  Governor  Kemper  said  in  his 
message  to  the  Legislature:  , 

In  an  issue  of  life  and  death  between  the  State  and  the  school  sys- 
tem, is  it  to  be  said  that  the  State  must  perish  and  the  schools  survive  ? 
Does  the  bond  of  the  constitution  so  nominate  and  exalt  any  one  of 
the  departments  over  all  others,  that  it  may,  whenever  the  letter  of  the 
bond  is  forfeit,  cut  its  pound  of  flesh  from  the  body  of  the  State, 
nearest  its  heart,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  life  of  the  State  ?  .  .  . 

The  school  system  is  the  creation  of  the  organic  law.  The  consti- 
tutional obligation  to  maintain  it  is  not  questioned.  In  all  my  official 
relations  to  that  system,  I  have  endeavored  to  support  it  fairly, 
efficiently  and  in  the  spirit  of  its  founders.  But  if  it  is  to  override  all 
other  interests  however  momentous  or  sacred;  if  the  claims  of  the 
school  department  upon  the  funds  of  the  general  treasury  constitute 
a  lien  paramount  to  every  other ;  if  the  existence  of  the  government, 
in  an  emergency,  is  to  be  dependent  upon  the  leniency  of  that  depart- 
ment ;  then,  the  sooner  it  is  shorn  of  its  dangerous  supremacy  the 
better. 

By  act  of  March  3,  1879,  known  as  the  "Henkel  Bill,"  pro- 
vision was  made  to  secure  to  the  schools  the  money  set  apart  by 
the  constitution  and  laws  for  that  purpose,  and  the  auditor  was 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       349 

required  to  calculate  the  total  revenue  applicable  to  public  schools 
and  to  report  his  estimate  to  the  state  superintendent  as  a  basis 
for  distribution.  By  this  law  75  per  cent  of  the  estimated  money 
for  schools  was  to  be  left  in  the  counties.  Later  the  act  was  so 
amended  as  to  leave  in  the  counties  90  per  cent  of  the  estimated 
revenue  applicable  to  schools. 

Subsequent  legislation  was  even  more  just  and  liberal  to  the 
cause  of  public  education.  By  acts  of  February  and  April,  1882, 
the  sum  of  $400,000,  in  four  equal  annual  installments,  was  to  be 
appropriated  to  the  further  credit  on  arrearages  due  the  schools. 
This  was  part  of  the  $500,000  received  on  account  of  the  sale  of 
the  State's  interest  in  the  Atlantic,  Mississippi,  and  Ohio  Railway. 
The  act  making  the  appropriation  declared  that  "  whereas  out  of 
the  revenues  assessed  for  the  years"  1870  to  1879  a  sum  amount- 
ing to  more  than  $1,504,000  and  dedicated  by  the  constitution 
to  public  education  "was  diverted  to  other  purposes"  prior  to 
1880,  "the  general  assembly  conceives  it  to  be  its  paramount 
duty"  to  restore  said  school  fund  as  speedily  as  possible.  The 
remaining  $100,000  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  was  to  be  spent 
in  the  erection  and  maintenance  of  a  normal  school  for  colored 
teachers. 

It  was  believed  by  some  that  this  $500,000  belonged  to  the 
sinking  fund  and  should  be  placed  there,  and  suit  was  accordingly 
instituted  to  prohibit  the  board  of  education  from  applying  the 
money  as  the  Legislature  had  ordered.  In  June,  1882,  an  in- 
junction was  granted  restraining  the  board  from  carrying  out 
the  provisions  of  the  act.  Appeal  was  taken  to  the  supreme 
court  in  December  of  that  year,  and  the  injunction  was  dissolved 
and  the  money  restored  to  the  schools.  The  plaintiff  sought  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  for  an  appeal  and  supersedeas, 
which  was  not  granted,  and  the  money  was  ordered  paid  to  the 
board  of  education,  January,  I883.1 

From  now  on  conditions  changed.  The  financial  management 
of  the  schools  showed  decided  improvement  after  1878,  made 
1  Knight,  Reconstruction  and  Education  in  Virginia. 


350  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

possible  by  relief  afforded  by  the  legislation  described  above.  The 
money  which  had  been  diverted  was  gradually  repaid.  In  March, 
1884,  in  response  to  an  inquiry  of  the  senate  finance  committee, 
the  auditor  furnished  a  statement  of  the  amounts  due  the  schools 
saying  that  the  arrearages  account  would  soon  be  settled  in  full. 
Another  slight  shadow  was  temporarily  thrown  across  the  path 
of  public  education  in  the  State  near  the  close  of  reconstruction 
by  a  newspaper  controversy  which  also  had  damaging  effect. 
The  principal  participants  were  the  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction and  Dr.  R.  L.  Dabney,  minister,  and  professor  in 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  a  man  who  represented  the  educational 
philosophy  of  aristocratic,  ante-bellum  Virginia,  but  hardly  the 
prevailing  educational  theory  of  post-bellum  days.  The  contro- 
versy consisted  of  a  series  of  letters  published  in  the  newspapers 
of  Richmond.  "Your  'free'  schools,"  wrote  Dr.  Dabney,  ad- 
dressing the  superintendent,  "like  not  a  few  of  the  other  pre- 
tentions  of  radicalism,  are  in  fact  exactly  opposite  to  the  name 
falsely  assumed.  The  great  bulk  of  those  who  pay  the  money 
for  them  do  it,  not  'freely,'  but  by  compulsion.  It  [the  school 
system]  has  become  mischievous  and  tyrannical,  in  that  it  forces 
on  us  the  useless,  impractical,  mischievous,  and  dishonest  attempt 
to  teach  literary  arts  to  all  negroes,  when  the  State  is  unable  to  pay 
its  debts  and  provide  for  its  welfare.  .  .  ."  He  advocated  uni- 
versal education  provided  it  was  true  education,  by  which  he 
meant  education  on  the  "old  Virginia  plan."  He  argued  that 
the  principle  by  which  "  the  State  intrudes  into  the  parental  obli- 
gation and  function  of  educating  all  children  is  dangerous  and 
agrarian,"  and  the  theory  that  the  children  belong  to  the  State  he 
pronounced  pagan,  "derived  from  heathen  Sparta  and  Plato's 
heathen  Republic.  .  .  ."  Moreover,  he  held  that  crime  and  pov- 
erty increased  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  scholastic  instruction 
given.  Besides,  there  was  a  natural  humiliation  in  accepting  the 
charity  of  the  State.  He  believed  that  ignorance  and  its  conse- 
quences must  needs  be  hereditary,  and  that  knowledge,  culture, 
and  virtue  are  not  to  be  extended  beyond  the  fortunate  youth  for 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       351 

whom  their  parents  secure  them.  The  rigor  of  this  law  might 
be  somewhat  relaxed,  but  not  by  the  civil  magistrate  or  the 
State.  "The  agency  must  be  social  and  Christian." 

Ruffner's  replies  to  Dabney  were  friendly,  though  the  urgency 
of  championing  the  cause  of  popular  education  was  sufficient 
excuse  for  firmness  and  keenness  of  statement: 

I  must  be  allowed  to  say  that  you  do  not  represent  Virginia  either 
present  or  past :  not  even  colonial  Virginia :  still  less  the  Virginia  of 
Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Monroe :  nor  of  the  elder  John 
Tyler,  James  Barbour  and  W.  C.  Nicholas  :  nor  of  James  P.  Preston, 
Thomas  M.  Randolph  and  William  B.  Giles :  nor  of  John  Floyd,  David 
Campbell  and  James  McDowell :  nor  the  Virginia  of  today ;  and  I  shall 
prove  it. 

Here  as  elsewhere  during  his  labors  for  public  education  Ruffner 
sought  to  make  clear  the  principle  of  universal  education,  free 
and  open  to  all  the  youth  of  the  State ;  and  now  as  at  other  times 
his  arguments  were  convincing  and  effective.  In  the  end  the 
controversy  may  have  had  the  effect  of  slightly  stimulating  the 
feeble-hearted,  though  in  a  few  instances  there  is  evidence  that 
Dr.  Dabney's  arguments  caused  some  discontent  with  the  system.1 

Similar  financial  and  administrative  difficulties  appeared  in 
practically  every  other  Southern  State  after  1868  as  a  result 
of  defective  legislation  of  the  reconstruction  period.  Conflicts 
between  provisions  of  the  constitutions  and  of  the  laws  gave 
considerable  trouble  generally.  Other  weaknesses  and  defects  of 
reconstruction  legislation  appeared  in  matters  of  administration, 
local  direction  and  support,  and  from  many  of  these  ills  the  South 
has  not  yet  recovered.  Some  of  the  troubles  inherited  from  this 
period  will  be  pointed  out  in  a  later  chapter. 

The  case  of  Virginia  will  also  serve  to  illustrate  another  obstacle 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  public  educational  advancement.  This 
appeared  in  the  agitation  in  Congress  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill, 
which  looked  to  securing  to  the  freedmen  rights  identical  with 

1  Knight,  Reconstruction  and  Education  in  Virginia. 


352  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

whites  in  hotels,  public  conveyances,  schools,  churches,  and  the- 
aters. Its  baneful  influence  was  widely  felt  in  every  part  of  the 
South,  especially  during  the  years  1873  and  1874  and  even  after- 
wards. Opposition  to  the  proposed  measure  was  widespread  not 
only  among  the  conservative  white  people  but  among  the  negroes 
themselves,  whose  interests  could  not  have  been  promoted  by  it. 

The  measure  passed  the  Senate  in  May,  1874,  and  had  consid- 
erable support  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  not  enough 
to  prevent  its  defeat.  The  effect  of  the  agitation  and  the  fear 
of  future  attempts  to  enact  the  measure  served  to  damage  educa- 
tional effort  and  interest.  Contracts  for  building  schoolhouses 
were  canceled,  engagements  with  teachers  were  suspended,  school 
officials  resigned,  and  state  legislation  which  looked  to  an  im- 
provement of  schools  was  delayed  on  account  of  the  bill.  The 
actual  effect  of  the  proposed  measure  on  public  education  in 
the  South  generally  may  be  seen  from  certain  reports  of  counties 
in  Virginia: 

Brunswick  :  There  is  still  some  opposition  to  our  school  system,  but 
that  would  die  out  if  the  agitation  of  the  civil  rights  question  could 
be  hushed  up. 

Campbell :  The  impending  civil  rights  bill  has  somewhat  checked 
progress. 

Franklin :  .  .  .  But  should  the  civil  rights  bill,  or  any  bill  provid- 
ing for  mixed  schools,  be  passed  by  congress,  the  white  people  of  the 
county  will,  with  one  voice,  say  "Away,  away  witfy  the  public  school 
system." 

Green  and  Madison :  Our  people  build  school-houses  and  are  very 
much  inclined  to  improve  in  that  direction;  but  the  civil  rights  bill 
looms  up  before  them  and  frightens  them  from  their  prosperity. 

Henrico  :  There  is  still  a  deep-seated  prejudice  with  some  against  the 
system,  and  this  can  never  be  removed  while  the  abominable  "civil 
rights"  agitation  is  an  open  question. 

King  William :  While  the  matter  was  before  congress  a  prejudice 
was  excited  in  this  county  which  "would  have  destroyed  the  whole 
system,  had  the  measure  passed  and  an  effort  been  made  to  enforce 
it.  Apart  from  the  fear  of  federal  intervention,  the  people  very  gener- 
ally advocate  a  system  of  public  education,  and  are  looking  to  the  time 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       353 

when  Virginia  will  be  left  to  manage  her  own  affairs,  to  form  a  system  of 
public  education  for  the  benefit  of  all  her  citizens.  .  .  .  The  white  peo- 
ple in  the  county  were  willing  in  all  cases  to  accord  to  the  colored  equal 
advantages  of  the  school  system  and  perfect  equality  before  the  law. 

Lancaster  and  Northumberland :  Public  sentiment  in  some  degree 
has  varied  during  the  scholastic  year,  owing  to  the  vexed  and  unsettled 
question  of  civil  rights.  Since  the  failure  to  pass  that  bill  through 
congress  the  sentiment  of  the  community  has  become  more  calm,  and 
a  large  majority  of  our  cleverest  and  best  population  will  sustain  and 
uphold  the  free  school  system. 

Loudoun :  Here  the  people  were  willing  and  eager  to  "  contribute 
to  the  building  of  houses  and  to  employ  the  public  teachers  by  apply- 
ing private  funds  in  extending  the  session  at  the  expiration  of  the  public 
school  terms.  They  were  beginning  to  unite  heartily  with  us  in  our 
labors,  and  our  work  would  have  progressed  satisfactorily  if  the  pros- 
pect of  the  disastrous  consequences  of  the  enforcement  of  the  civil 
rights  bill  had  not  warned  them  against  further  action.  In  several 
instances  promised  assistance  was  withdrawn  and  our  friends  have  re- 
laxed their  efforts  in  dread  of  the  threatened  suspension  or  destruction 
of  our  schools  by  congressional  interference." 

Mecklenburg:  Some  of  the  districts  in  this  county  had  building 
funds  in  hand,  but  refused  to  do  anything  while  the  matter  was  being 
agitated  in  congress.  In  some  townships  work  on  school-houses  was 
actually  suspended  for  this  reason. 

Rockbridge :  Public  sentiment  seems  to  have  retrograded  in  Rock- 
bridge  in  regard  to  the  school  system,  during  the  past  year;  no  doubt 
owing  to  the  civil  rights  movement  in  congress.  The  people  see  very 
plainly  how  they  may  soon  be  forced  to  abandon  the  system  of  public 
schools  entirely,  or  submit  to  its  being  made  a  means  of  social  deg- 
radation and  political  oppression.  Hence  they  are  inclined  to  look  with 
more  or  less  suspicion  on  what  seems  to  be  fraught  with  so  much 
danger. 

Southampton  and  Surry :  Operations  to  build  and  equip  school- 
houses  were  resumed  as  soon  as  it  appeared  that  the  bill  would  be 
defeated  in  congress. 

Ruffner  believed  that  if  the  bill  had  been  enacted  "our  school 
system  would  have  received  its  deathblow  in  two  hours  after  the 
fact  became  known  to  the  Legislature.  Many  building  and  other 
enterprises  instantly  halted,  subdued  opposition  revived,  and, 


354  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

strange  to  say,  some  schools  suddenly  lost  most  of  their  pupils. 
The  growing  feeling  of  cordiality  toward  the  education  of  the 
colored  people  was  chilled." 

Georgia  suffered  less  from  the  social  disorder  and  upheaval  of 
the  period  during  the  actual  process  of  reconstruction  than  some 
of  the  other  Southern  States,  but  the  general  condition  of  the  times 
was  even  there  not  conducive  to  educational  enthusiasm.  More- 
over, certain  evils  of  the  years  1868  to  1872,  when  the  conserva- 
tives regained  final  control  of  the  State,  lived  on  in  their  influence 
for  many  years  and  in  many  ways  retarded  a  wholesome  educa- 
tional growth. 

The  machinery  provided  for  the  school  system  under  the  law 
of  1870  was  made  ready  immediately  thereafter,  although  very 
little  was  accomplished  until  nearly  three  years  later,  when  the 
conservatives  "brought  some  order  out  of  the  chaotic  treasury" 
and  set  the  public  schools  in  general  operation  throughout  the 
State.  The  original  law  under  the  reconstruction  regime  soon 
revealed  many  defects.  Among  these  was  the  difficulty  experi- 
enced in  selecting  suitable  supervisory  and  administrative  officers 
for  the  local  organization.  Good  men  were  occasionally  found  for 
the  position  of  county  boards  of  education  and  county  school  com- 
missioners, but  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  system  or  who 
took  no  interest  in  it  generally  resigned  or  declined  to  serve  when 
appointed.  But  it  was  frequently  impossible  to  obtain  a  quorum 
at  the  meetings  of  the  county  board,  and  at  meetings  with  full 
attendance  it  was  very  difficult  to  secure  the  definite  action  that 
was  necessary.  There  appeared  a  lack  of  confidence  in  the 
permanency  of  the  system,  and  discouragement  arose  as  a  result 
of  meager  school  revenues.  Between  1868  and  1872  most  of 
the  public-school  funds  were  diverted  to  other  purposes,  with  the 
result  that  the  public  schools  were  suspended  in  1872. 

With  the  return  of  home  rule  in  1872  Gustavus  J.  Orr  became 
state  superintendent  of  schools,  a  position  which  he  continued 
to  occupy  with  remarkable  success  until  his  death,  in  1887.  In 
his  first  report  Orr  spoke  of  "the  utter  lack  of  school  funds" 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       355 

and  certain  defects  of  the  school  law  of  1870  which  "have  pre- 
vented the  inauguration  of  schools  very  generally  throughout  the 
entire  State."  He  urged  legislative  change  of  the  school  plan  and 
patience  to  give  the  schools  a  fair  trial.  He  also  recommended 
that  the  Legislature  provide  for  restoring  the  school  funds  which 
had  been  diverted  under  radical  rule.  This  recommendation,  as 
well  as  that  for  an  improved  school  law,  was  acted  on  favor- 
ably, and  the  diverted  school  funds  were  restored  under  authority 
of  an  act  of  August,  1872,  and  subsequent  legislation.1  Thus 
the  conservatives  in  Georgia,  as  in  Virginia,  returned  to  the 
schools  the  funds  diverted  from  their  legitimate  object  by  the 
reconstructionists. 

Gradually  the  schools  began  to  recover  and  to  establish  them- 
selves, though  progress  during  the  next  few  years  was  slow.  In 
1873  the  school  population  was  343,000,  with  only  76,000  enrolled 
and  only  32,000  in  average  attendance.  The  school  term  was 
sixty-six  days.  The  following  year  121,000  were  enrolled  and 
76,000  were  in  average  daily  attendance.  In  1875  the  enrollment 
and  average  attendance  were  slightly  larger  than  in  1874,  and 
the  school  term  had  increased  to  seventy-five  days.  Minor 
changes  had  been  made  in  the  school  legislation  since  the  passage 
of  the  new  school  law  of  1872,  and  the  friends  of  education  were 
making  every  effort  to  bring  the  schools  to  a  creditable  place  in 
the  public  mind. 

Another  constitution  was  adopted  for  Georgia  in  1877  with 
new  and  more  definite  and  more  advanced  educational  provisions, 
and  in  December  of  that  year  Orr  said : 

The  public  school  system  of  Georgia  is  steadily  gaining  ground  and 
may  now  be  considered  firmly  established  in  the  State.  The  new 
constitution  incorporates  in  its  provisions  the  same  essential  require- 
ments on  this  subject  as  those  contained  in  the  constitution  of  1868. 
This  is  a  great  step  for  us,  as  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  success  was  for  a  long  time  the  prejudice  arising  from  the 

1See  also  act  of  March  3,  1874. 


356  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

manner  of  the  adoption  of  the  common  school  system.  This  feeling 
arose  from  the  fact  that  the  instrument  above  mentioned  was  made  by 
a  body  which  did  not  represent  the  people  of  Georgia,  and  many  of 
whose  acts  were  very  odious  to  them.  This  sentiment,  however,  can 
no  longer  exist,  as  the  convention  of  1877  was  composed  of  men  of 
our  own  selection,  and  their  work  has  been  overwhelmingly  ratified 
by  the  people  at  the  polls.  Thus  a  barrier  to  progress,  already  melting 
away,  is  now  entirely  gone. 

Following  the  passage  of  the  school  law  in  March,  1869,  a 
board  of  education  was  organized  for  Louisiana  and  steps  were 
taken  immediately  to  put  the  new  school  system  into  operation. 
But  suitable  persons  were  difficult  to  find  to  serve  as  local  school 
officers,  there  appeared  an  opposition  to  taxation  for  public-school 
purposes,  and  the  state  school  fund  was  hardly  sufficient  to  main- 
tain schools  for  more  than  a  month  in  the  year.  Immediate  need 
appeared  for  an  amendment  to  the  school  law  so  as  to  supply 
adequate  funds  and  to  simplify  the  school  machinery.  That  par- 
ticular feature  of  the  law  which  provided  for  compulsory  mixed 
schools  continued  to  render  "the  whole  system  obnoxious"  until 
a  system  more  conformable  to  the  habits  of  the  people  was 
introduced  in  1877. 

In  1870,  according  to  the  report  of  T.  W.  Conway,  the  state 
superintendent  of  schools,  the  school  population  numbered 
253,000,  but  only  23,000  were  enrolled  in  only  230  schools,  with 
524  teachers.  The  school  system  was  proving  to  be  very  defective 
and  very  difficult  to  administer,  and  it  was  subjected  to  "  constant 
clinic  treatment "  by  the  Legislature  throughout  the  reconstruction 
period,  but  without  very  great  success. 

The  requirement  that  all  public  schools  should  be  open  alike 
to  all  children  of  educable  age  without  distinction  of  race  or  color 
went  far  toward  preventing  the  successful  operation  of  the 
system.  The  need  for  modifying  the  law  and  the  rules  of  the 
state  board  of  education  appeared  urgent  from  the  outset.  There 
was  probably  no  other  State  in  which  the  work  of  public  schools 
was  attempted  under  more  discouraging  disadvantages  than  those 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       357 

encountered  in  Louisiana.  But  the  mixed-school  provisions  ex- 
cited a  determined  opposition  generally  and  especially  on  the  part 
of  those  who  would  otherwise  have  cooperated  in  the  support  of 
the  school  plan.  On  this  point  Con  way  said : 

It  was  irrational  to  overlook  the  fact  that  this  active  antagonism 
of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  white  population  of  the  State  is  a  formid- 
able hindrance  to  our  school  work.  However  unreasonable  it  may  be 
shown  to  be  and  unworthy  the  intelligence  of  the  age,  its  undeniable 
existence  and  influence  must  be  taken  into  account  in  any  estimate 
of  past  progress  or  of  future  prospects.  The  noblest  vessel,  however 
ably  managed,  makes  but  slow  progress  when  forced  to  contend  with 
both  wind  and  tide. 


Principally  on  account  of  this  condition  but  little  progress 
was  made  in  public  education  in  Louisiana  during  the  recon- 
struction period.  And  largely  on  account  of  the  mixed-school 
plan  the  Peabody  Board  was  unable  to  cooperate  with  the  state 
authorities  until  the  close  of  the  period.  The  benefit  of  the 
public-school  funds  was  being  enjoyed  chiefly  by  the  colored 
children,  and  the  white  children  were  generally  without  the 
advantages  of  public  education.  At  best,  however,  very  little  was 
actually  achieved  for  the  children  of  either  race.  Out  of  a  school 
population  of  280,000  only  30,000  were  in  school  in  1872,  and 
three  years  later  conditions  had  improved  only  slightly  and  re- 
mained unsatisfactory  until  after  1876,  when  the  State  was 
restored  to  home  rule.  By  that  time  the  sum  of  $2,137,000  of  the 
school  funds  had  been  misapplied  by  the  reconstructionists.  By 
1877  a  new  school  system  had  been  inaugurated  under  conservative 
influence,  and  Mr.  Sears,  of  the  Peabody  Board,  reported  that 
''the  present  prospect  is  that  all  classes  of  the  people  will  unite 
in  the  work  of  education." 

It  was  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the  reconstruction 
constitution  and  the  school  of  law  of  January,  1869,  gave  Florida 
provisions  for  an  educational  organization  which  was  theoretically 
an  improvement  over  the  plan  in  operation  during  the  ante-bellum 


358  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

period.  This  advanced  plan  proved  ineffective,  however,  to  any 
really  creditable  achievement  in  public-school  affairs,  and  it  was 
many  years  after  the  undoing  of  the  reconstruction  rule  that 
schools  began  to  enjoy  their  rightful  share  of  public  confidence. 
Distrust  of  and  indifference  to  public  education  characterized  the 
years  from  1868  to  1877  and  were  largely  the  result  of  the  bitter- 
ness and  violence  which  prevailed  and  the  open  and  shameless 
bribery  and  fraud  which  were  so  generally  practiced  throughout 
the  period.  Florida  suffered  many  injustices  and  terrors  at  the 
hands  of  the  reconstructionists,  who,  through  corruption  and  mis- 
government  of  a  most  revolting  nature,  betrayed  the  State  that 
they  might  enrich  themselves.1 

In  counties  with  superintendents  appointed  under  the  law 
of  January,  1869,  the  organization  of  the  public-school  system 
was  undertaken  without  delay.  But  the  general  inauguration  of 
the  plan  was  slow,  and  in  1871  the  reports  showed  that  fully 
three  fourths  of  the  children  of  the  State  were  yet  "unreached 
by  the  educational  system."  In  general  the  disturbed  condition 
of  the  State  and  other  unfortunate  circumstances  were  very 
unfavorable  to  public  schools.  In  1873  the  school  population 
numbered  approximately  75,000,  with  nearly  20,000  enrolled  and 
about  15,000  in  average  attendance.  Some  of  the  schools  reported 
were  not  strictly  public  schools,  but  were  controlled  and  sup- 
ported in  large  measure  by  philanthropic  or  other  similar  agencies. 
Throughout  these  years  opposition  to  the  public-school  system 
was  more  or  less  intense.  The  complete  control  of  the  State  by 
people  who  were  unsympathetic  if  not  hostile  to  Southern  senti- 
ment accounted  in  very  large  measure  for  the  failure  of  the  school 
system  to  grow  and  develop  as  had  been  promised  in  i86g.2 

aThe  public  debt  of  Florida  was  increased  from  $524,000  in  1868  to 
$5,620,000  in  1874. 

2J.  C.  Gibbs,  a  colored  man,  served  as  state  superintendent  of  schools 
from  1872  to  1874.  Gibbs  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1831  and  was  a 
graduate  of  Dartmouth.  He  was  a  minister  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
had  come  South  in  1865  as  an  agent  of  the  Old  School  Presbyterian  As- 
sembly, to  organize  schools  and  churches  among  the  f reedmen.  He  came  into 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       359 

The  conservatives  returned  to  the  control  of  the  State  in  1877, 
and  the  report  of  the  state  superintendent  the  following  year 
showed  a  slight  increase  in  educational  sentiment  and  progress. 
During  the  year  1877-1878  a  larger  percentage  of  the  school 
population  had  been  enrolled  and  a  more  creditable  average  at- 
tendance was  reported.  There  was  reported  also  a  considerable 
increase  in  the  number  of  schools  sustained,  a  much  longer  average 
school  term,  the  employment  of  better-qualified  teachers,  and  the 
adoption  of  county  uniformity  in  textbooks.  The  financial  condi- 
tion of  many  of  the  counties  was  improved,  yet  there  was  evident 
need  of  greatly  increased  funds  for  school  purposes.  The  schools 
for  the  colored  people  were  "sustained  in  proportion  to  their 
population,  and  these  people  express  themselves  satisfied  that 
justice  has  been  accorded  them." 

The  school  system  provided  for  in  Mississippi  under  the  law  of 
July  4,  1870,  went  into  operation  a  few  months  afterwards  under 
the  superintendency  of  Henry  R.  Pease,  a  native  of  Connecticut. 
He  had  been  a  captain  in  the  United  States  Army  and  later  was 
an  agent  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  Pease  served  as  superin- 
tendent until  1873. 

The  local  administrative  officers  of  the  system  were  appointed 
by  military  authority  until  the  regular  election  in  November,  1871. 
As  a  result  of  such  appointment  most  of  these  school  officers  were 
radicals,  scalawags,  negroes,  or  carpetbaggers.  Under  the  law  they 
had  rather  large  power,  including,  that  of  levying  local  taxes  for 
school  purposes.  And  this  power  led  almost  immediately  to  pre- 
tentious and  visionary  but  costly  and  extravagant  schemes  for 
educational  work  in  the  State.  The  conservative  white  people, 
who,  in  large  measure,  paid  the  taxes,  were  given  practically 

Florida  in  1867  and  became  secretary  of  state  under  the  constitution  of  1868, 
serving  until  1872,  when  he  became  superintendent  of  the  public  schools. 
He  was  described  as  "a  dark  mulatto,  of  fine  appearance  and  gentlemanly 
manners,"  and  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  more  than  average  ability 
and  quite  highly  respected.  But  the  people  of  Florida  were  naturally  un- 
happy and  disconcerted  at  having  a  negro  to  head  their  schools. 


360  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

no  voice  in  the  direction  of  the  public  schools, — a  condition  which 
developed  hostility  to  public  education.  The  power  of  raising 
local  school  funds  was  placed  "in  the  hands  of  men  who  were 
not  required  to  share  the  burdens  which  they  imposed;  who,  in 
many  cases,  had  lived  only  a  short  time  in  the  State,  and  conse- 
quently had  little  appreciation  of  the  difficulty  the  Southern 
whites  were  having  in  trying  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new 
economic  situation;  who  often  belonged  to  the  less  worthy  class 
of  immigrants,  with  no  experience  in  the  affairs  of  government, 
and  with  the  selfish  exploitation  of  the  country  too  often  as  their 
only  excuse  for  being  there.  The  evils  bred  by  this  plan  of 
organization  were  legion.  Misunderstandings  arose  where  none 
should  have  existed ;  injustice  was  done  when  none  was  intended ; 
lack  of  sympathy  was  at  first  well-nigh  universal;  fraud  and 
corruption  were  not  infrequent."1 

Practically  half  of  the  total  expenditures  for  schools  during  the 
first  year  of  the  system  was  "absolutely  thrown  away,"  and  the 
heavy  expenditures  were  so  extravagant  that  they  "staggered 
even  the  reconstruction  leaders."  The  negro  schools  were  particu- 
larly well  cared  for  during  this  and  the  next  few  years,  the  expenses 
for  this  maintenance  being  abnormally  heavy.  In  one  county, 
where  the  number  of  colored  children  was  four  times  larger 
than  the  number  of  white  children,  a  large  number  of  well- 
equipped  schools  were  provided  and  teachers  were  employed  at 
salaries  so  much  larger  than  the  salaries  paid  the  teachers  of  white 
schools  that  the  comparison  was  a  cause  of  much  dissatisfaction. 

Cases  of  fraud  and  corruption  in  the  management  of  the  public- 
school  fund  were  naturally  numerous  during  the  period.  "All  over 
the  State  the  robbery  through  the  school  system  was  especially 
rank,"  "  the  manner  in  which  the  school  boards  of  some  counties 
are  swindling  the  people  is  enough  to  drive  them  mad,"  are 
contemporary  statements  which  describe  with  fair  exactness  some 
of  the  evils  on  which  the  schools  had  fallen.  The  result  was  an 

1  Noble,  Forty  Years  of  the  Public  Schools  in  Mississippi,  pp.  32,  33. 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       361 

outright  opposition  to  the  system,  which  often  expressed  itself 
in  acts  of  violence  in  which  school  property  was  destroyed  and 
teachers  terrorized  and  driven  from  the  State. 

Disorders  natural  to  the  period  practically  forced  Mississippi 
into  a  state  of  economic  collapse.  Between  1870  and  1872  the 
state  debt  more  than  doubled,  real  property  decreased  in  value 
from  $118,000,000  in  1870  to  $95,000,000  six  years  later,  and 
personal  property  decreased  during  the  same  time  from 
$59,000,000  to  $35,000,000.  All  through  these  years  the  financial 
system  of  the  State  was  in  a  distressing  condition,  but  the  recon- 
struction policy  of  heavy  taxes  and  extravagant  expenditures  con- 
tinued. Moreover,  the  permanent  school  fund  suffered  a  shameful 
loss.  Under  such  conditions  public  schools  had  little  chance  to 
develop  and  operate  with  any  degree  of  success. 

In  1873  Thomas  W.  Cardoza,  a  negro  who  was  under  indictment 
for  embezzlement,  succeeded  Pease  as  superintendent.  Two  years 
later,  however,  the  control  of  the  affairs  of  the  State  was  returned 
to  the  conservatives,  and  reconstruction  came  to  a  close  immedi- 
ately thereafter.  Impeachment  charges  were  preferred  against 
Cardoza  for  maladministration  and  the  misappropriation  of  public- 
school  funds,  and  that  officer  preferred  resignation  to  trial.1 

Here,  as  in  some  of  the  other  Southern  States,  the  conservative 
reaction  to  the  radical  policy  of  reconstruction  led  at  once  to 
practices  of  rigid  economy  in  public  education — practices  which 
have  too  long  prevailed  in  the  entire  South.  Reconstruction  left 
Mississippi  almost  bankrupt  economically  and  pitiably  depressed 
and  depleted  in  spirit.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  it 
along  with  the  other  Southern  States  has  lagged  behind  in  public 
educational  endeavor.  But  the  conservative  leaders  set  themselves 
heroically  to  the  discouraging  task  of  providing  for  the  children 
of  the  State  better  and  safer  educational  advantages,  and  with 
the  return  to  home  rule  in  the  fall  of  1875  they  sought  to  make 

1  Other  state  officers,  including  Governor  Ames,  were  also  impeached  at 
this  time. 


362  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

such  provision  through  new  educational  legislation  and  by  other 
means.  "The  people  of  Mississippi,"  declared  one  of  those  leaders 
in  1876,  "have  suffered  enough  already  from  ignorance  and  its 
consequences,  blind  prejudices  in  governmental  affairs,  and  they 
will  not  refuse  to  use  any  means  in  their  power  to  remove  them." 

The  new  school  system  of  Arkansas  under  the  reconstruction 
regime  was  set  up  in  August,  1868,  under  the  superintendency  of 
Thomas  Smith,  whose  first  report  appeared  three  months  later. 
During  that  and  the  following  year  fully  half  of  the  entire  school 
fund  was  paid  to  the  ten  circuit  superintendents.  These  officers 
were  appointed  very  largely  for  political  purposes  and  gave  most 
of  their  attention  to  politics,  and  their  reports  showed  that  they 
were  not  qualified  for  their  duties.  Lack  of  adequate  funds  was 
another  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  new  schools. 

The  school  system  accomplished  very  little  during  the  entire 
reconstruction  period.  The  total  school  population  seems  to  have 
decreased  during  the  first  five  years  of  that  time,  though  the 
number  of  teachers,  schoolhouses,  and  the  value  of  school  property 
slightly  increased.  The  enrollment  for  these  years  was  very 
poor.  In  1868  about  39  per  cent  of  the  total  white  school  popula- 
tion and  about  37  per  cent  of  the  total  colored  school  population 
were  enrolled.  In  1876  less  than  9  per  cent  of  the  white  children 
were  attending  school,  and  statistics  for  the  attendance  of  the 
colored  children  were  not  given  at  all  for  that  year.  The  total 
public-school  revenues  decreased  from  $300,000  in  1868  to  about 
$40,000  in  1875. 

Unwise  educational  legislation  and  an  act  of  1869  which  made 
the  treasurer's  certificates  of  the  State  receivable  for  state  dues 
and  debts  discouraged  the  friends  of  education  and  disheartened 
the  teachers,  many  of  whom  left  the  State.  For  these  and  other 
reasons  public  educational  facilities  became  very  meager,  and  the 
schools  "literally  died  of  starvation."  Smith  had  been  succeeded 
in  office  in  January,  1873,  by  J.  C.  Corbin,  a  negro  graduate  of 
Oberlin  College,  who  had  come  into  Arkansas  with  the  United 
States  army  and  had  attained  some  prominence.  His  report  for 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION      363 

the  following  year,  like  practically  all  the  reports  on  education 
during  the  reconstruction  period,  revealed  deplorable  conditions. 

In  April  and  May,  1874,  the  State  witnessed  a  heated  struggle 
between  the  conservative  element  and  the  reconstruction,  or  radi- 
cal, element,  known  as  the  "  Brooks-Baxter  War."  Reconstruction 
practically  came  to  a  close,  however,  on  May  14  of  that  year, 
when  President  Grant  proclaimed  Baxter  the  legal  governor  of  the 
State  and  ordered  Brooks  and  his  following  to  disperse.  Authority 
then  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  conservatives,  whose  represent- 
atives met  in  convention  in  July  and  formed  a  new  constitution, 
which  was  submitted  to  the  people  in  October,  1874,  and  adopted 
as  the  organic  law  of  the  State. 

The  new  constitution  provided  for  the  education  of  all  the 
children  of  the  State,  for  making  the  school  funds  inviolable, 
for  an  annual  capitation  tax  and  a  uniform  property  tax  for 
schools,  but  left  local  school  taxation  optional  with  the  voters.  One 
striking  evidence  of  conservative  reaction  to  the  rule  of  reconstruc- 
tion, however,  was  the  constitutional  abolition  of  the  office  of 
state  superintendent  of  schools — a  step  taken  no  doubt  because 
Corbin,  who  was  superintendent  at  that  time,  was  so  unfavorable 
to  the  conservatives.  The  reestablishment  of  this  office  was  left 
to  legislative  action,  and  by  an  act  of  December,  1875,  the  superin- 
tendency  was  restored.  It  had  appeared  best  to  the  convention 
and  "to  those  in  power  to  let  the  old  system  practically  die  and 
then  to  build  anew  on  the  basis  of  home  rule,  honest  money, 
conservatism  in  expenditures,  and  honesty  in  administration."1 

It  was  many  years  after  the  close  of  reconstruction  in  Arkansas, 
as  in  other  Southern  States,  before  the  school  system  regained  its 
strength  and  established  its  proper  place  in  public  esteem.  But  in 
his  report  for  the  year  ending  July  i,  1876,  Superintendent  George 
W.  Hill  said : 

There  is  light  ahead  for  our  common-school  system.  This  is  no 
groundless  assertion.  It  is  based  upon  assurances  from  all  parts  of  the 

1  Weeks,  History  of  Public  School  Education  in  Arkansas,  p.  60. 


364,          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

State  of  growing  intelligence,  of  an  increasing  spirit  of  inquiry,  of 
awakened  appreciation  of  education,  of  lessening  hostility  to  free 
schools,  of  the  waning  indifference  of  the  people  to  the  efforts  of  the 
State  in  behalf  of  education,  of  an  enlarging  number  of  friends  and 
advocates  of  common  schools,  of  a  more  earnest  call  for  teachers  of 
higher  qualifications,  of  more  agitation  of  the  public  mind  on  the  free- 
school  question,  of  a  greater  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  press  to 
speak  in  advocacy  of  common  schools,  and  of  better  county  and  district 
officers  being  elected. 

The  new  school  system  established  in  Tennessee  under  the  act  of 
March,  1867,  began  under  the  superintendency  of  John  Eaton 
(a  native  of  New  Hampshire),  who,  during  the  lately  closed  war, 
had  attained  the  rank  of  brigadier  general  in  the  United  States 
army.  Eaton  served  from  October  of  that  year  to  March,  1870, 
but  was  unable  to  set  the  schools  properly  to  work  and  to  organize 
the  system  in  any  effective  fashion.  The  political  and  social  dis- 
order prevailing  in  the  State  made  the  educational  legislation  of 
1867  very  unpopular.  And  in  spite  of  what  seemed  to  be  a  fair 
financial  provision  for  schools,  it  soon  became  very  evident  that 
there  was  a  big  difference  between  school  funds  due  and  school 
funds  available.  The  use  of  the  school  funds  for  other  purposes 
threw  distrust  on  the  public  educational  plan,  which  was  met  at 
every  point  by  doubt  and  opposition.  This  hostility  was  aroused 
by  the  misapplication  of  the  funds  by  the  reconstruction  govern- 
ment. The  system  also  lacked  vitality ;  and  it  seemed  to  be  the 
opinion  of  the  best  men  of  the  State,  even  of  the  reconstructionists, 
that  "so  long  as  we  pay  taxes  for  the  express  purpose  of  main- 
taining free  schools,  and  yet,  by  wrongdoing  of  state  officers,  have 
so  little  return  in  the  shape  of  schools,  the  system  will  be  a 
nullity  and  a  sham."  As  late  as  1869  only  a  few  counties  had  com- 
plied with  the  law  of  1867.  Moreover,  it  was  difficult  to  secure 
suitable  men  to  serve  as  county  superintendents.  In  some  counties 
as  many  as  seven  successive  appointments  had  been  made,  and  too 
often  the  work  of  organizing  the  schools  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  ignorant  and  incompetent. 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       365 

The  conservative  candidates  for  the  Legislature  were  elected  in 
August,  1869,  and  the  radical  control  of  the  State  practically  came 
to  a  close  shortly  afterwards.  This  Legislature  responded  to  the 
demand  for  economy  and  decentralization  in  educational  admin- 
istration, and  the  law  of  1867  was  superseded  by  an  act  of  Decem- 
ber, 1869,  which  practically  destroyed  the  state  organization  of 
schools  and  turned  them  over  to  the  authority  of  the  counties. 
The  office  of  state  superintendent  was  abolished,  and  Eaton  was 
given  ninety  days  to  close  up  the  educational  affairs  of  the  State. 
This  reactionary  measure  "was  not  inspired  by  hostility  to  public 
schools,  but  was  believed  to  be  the  best  that  the  temper  of  the 
public  mind  and  the  disordered  financial  condition  of  the  State 
would  then  warrant."  It  was  a  protest  against  petty  politics  and 
the  policies  of  reconstruction.  The  conservatives  honestly  believed 
that  the  schools  needed  to  be  relieved  of  the  taint  of  misrule  'and 
of  radical  exploitation  before  they  could  win  and  keep  their  proper 
place  in  the  confidence  of  the  public. 

In  March,  1870,  a  new  constitution  was  formed  and  adopted  for 
the  State,  and  frequent  educational  legislation  was  enacted  during 
the  next  few  years.  But  the  practical  operation  of  the  schools 
showed  but  little  work  that  was  creditable.  In  1873  the  office  of 
state  superintendent  was  restored  and  other  legislative  improve- 
ments made.  Public  confusion  continued,  however,  and  the  schools 
made  practically  no  progress.  The  system  was  described  as  wholly 
unsuited  for  the  purposes  of  education  and  "totally  destitute  of 
energy."  This  condition  seems  to  have  continued  for  several  years. 
The  reports  that  came  from  a  few  of  the  counties  were  full  of  dis- 
couragement, and  it  is  highly  probable  that  not  more  than  one 
fifth  of  the  educable  children  of  the  State  enjoyed  public  educa- 
tional opportunity  during  a  large  part  of  the  years  from  1868  to 
1876.  In  this  latter  year  the  State  had  a  school  population  of 
434,000,  with  194,000  enrolled  and  only  125,000  in  daily  attend- 
ance. The  schools  operated  about  seventy  days  in  the  year,  and 
the  average  monthly  salary  of  the  teachers  was  about  $32.  Im- 
provement in  term  and  salary  was  later  only  slowly  made. 


366  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

It  was  not  until  1871  that  Texas  had  any  kind  of  an  organized 
system  of  public  schools  under  the  new  plan  of  the  previous  year. 
J.  C.  DeGress  had  become  state  superintendent,  and  while  he  re- 
ported promise  of  a  good  school  system  for  the  State,  he  also  re- 
ported strong  opposition  and  much  prejudice  shown  by  occasional 
intimidation  of  teachers  and  acts  of  violence.  Difficulty  was  also 
experienced  in  selecting  local  school  directors  and  in  the  collection 
of  the  county  school  taxes.  The  school  law  of  1870,  which  had 
been  found  to  be  impracticable,  was  modified  in  1871,  but  im- 
provement in  legislation  did  not  greatly  reveal  itself  in  the  opera- 
tion of  the  schools.  The  condition  of  the  colored  schools  is 
indicated  by  such  reports  as  this : 

Schools  for  colored  children  have  been  opened  all  over  the  State, 
and  are  crowded  to  overflowing  with  children  who  evince  an  eager 
thirst  for  knowledge  that  augurs  well  for  the  future  of  the  race.  The 
problem  that  agitated  the  Southern  mind  a  few  years  ago,  of  what 
would  be  the  future  of  the  colored  people,  is  settled,  for  education  will 
make  them  self-reliant,  self-supporting,  and  valuable  citizens.  They 
enter  into  the  educational  work  before  them  with  a  zest  that  bespeaks 
their  full  understanding  of  its  importance.  Where  it  has  been  impos- 
sible to  lease  buildings  for  school-houses,  they  have  offered  their 
churches,  and  in  many  instances,  have  clubbed  together  and  put  up 
buildings  for  the  purpose. 

The  greatest  difficulty  experienced  in  giving  them  the  benefits  of  the 
law  has  been  in  procuring  teachers  for  them,  few  persons  having  the 
nerve  and  hardihood  to  meet  the  continual  insults,  the  social  ostracism, 
the  threats  of  injury,  and  all  the  annoyances  to  which  teachers  of 
colored  schools  are  subject.  Some  few  teachers  have  braved  all  this 
and  conquered;  but  in  other  cases  insult  and  intimidation  have  done 
their  work,  and  the  schools  are  closed  for  want  of  teachers.  In  some 
communities  teachers  of  colored  schools  have  been  unable  to  procure 
board  or  even  lodging;  in  other  instances  they  have  been  dragged 
from  their  houses  at  night  and  whipped ;  others,  going  to  their  school- 
houses  in  the  morning  have  found  them  a  heap  of  ashes. 

This  state  of  affairs  can  be  remedied  in  every  community  by  the 
citizens  frowning  upon  such  violations  of  law,  but  they  will  not  do  it 
till  they  begin  to  feel  that  their  interest  demands  it.  ... 


I      EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       367 

Scarcity  of  funds  and  the  mismanagement  of  those  available  for 
schools  led  to  confusion  and  actual  distress  among  the  teachers 
who  were  engaged  in  the  system  during  the  early  years  of  its  opera- 
tion. In  1873  the  Legislature  repealed  the  school  law  of  1871 
and  enacted  one  which  dispensed  with  the  state  board  of  education 
and  substituted  local  control  through  county  organization.  Condi- 
tions did  not  improve  by  such  changes,  though  the  friends  of  the 
schools  were  brave  in  the  face  of  great  opposition  and  during  in- 
tense political  strife.  There  was  considerable  confusion,  and  the 
work  proceeded  so  poorly  and  was  in  such  an  unsettled  condition 
that  the  Peabody  Board  did  not  feel  justified  in  making  further 
donations  to  the  State.  But  the  leaders  made  public  appeal  for 
efficient,  paid  county  superintendents,  trained  teachers,  prompt 
and  liberal  payments  by  the  State  for  school  support,  improved 
schoolhouses,  and  a  minimum  school  term  of  six  months.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  public  schools  depend  for  their  support  on  the 
sympathies  and  cooperation  of  the  people  and  that  such  assistance 
could  be  secured  only  by  making  the  schools  in  every  way  worthy. 
The  reconstruction  regime  practically  came  to  a  close  in  Texas  in 
1874,  but  as  late  as  1876  school  conditions  were  not  reassuring 
there.  Two  years  later,  however,  signs  of  improvement  appeared, 
and  the  schools  were  reported  as  growing  in  popular  favor,  and  no 
fears  were  entertained  for  the  future. 

S.  S.  Ashley,  a  minister  from  Massachusetts,  was  elected  the 
first  superintendent  of  schools  for  North  Carolina  under  the  recon- 
struction plan.  He  was  a  man  of  some  ability,  but  very  narrow  in 
view  and  so  prejudiced  that  he  was  not  always  cautious  in  his 
behavior.  He  was  especially  interested  in  mixed  schools  for  the 
State,  and  this  interest  served  to  make  him  very  unpleasant  to  the 
native  conservative  population. 

His  first  report  appeared  in  November,  1868,  before  the  new 
educational  legislation  had  been  enacted,  and  showed  that  almost 
nothing  was  being  done  for  public  schools.  The  income  for  school 
purposes  was  very  meager  and  in  striking  contrast  to  the  liberal 
fund  for  school  support  before  1860.  Ashley  believed,  however, 


368  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

that  some  schools  would  be  opened  in  the  fall  of  1869  and  that  by 
the  beginning  of  1870  many  communities  in  the  State  would  be 
supplied  with  educational  facilities.  Aid  was  expected  from  the 
school  taxes,  but  this  source  of  support  proved  to  be  very  uncertain 
during  the  early  years  of  reconstruction.  Several  outside  agencies 
were  aiding  education  in  the  State,  however,  during  this  time. 
Among  them  were  the  Baltimore  Association  of  Friends,  the  Sol- 
diers' Memorial  Society  of  Boston,  the  American  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  Peabody  Board.  The  education  of  the  freedmen 
was  receiving  attention  from  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  the  New 
England  Freedmen's  Relief  Association,  the  New  York  Freed- 
men's Relief  Association,  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
the  Friends'  Freedmen's  Aid  Association,  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly,  and  other  organizations.  Through  Reverend  F.  A. 
Fiske,  of  Massachusetts,  an  educational  campaign  for  the  freedmen 
was  carried  on  by  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  the  Peabody  Board 
was  aiding  several  towns  to  maintain  schools  and  was  stimulating 
interest  in  public  education  generally.1 

Lack  of  funds,  scarcity  of  teachers,  defective  legislation,  uncer- 
tainty and  confusion,  partisan  strife,  and  fraud  and  extravagance 
in  the  state  government  promised  nothing  but  failure  for  the  new 
school  system,  which  was  meeting  obstacles  at  almost  every  point. 
Added  to  these  ills  was  a  decision  of  the  supreme  court  which  held 
that  the  provision  of  the  school  law  of  1869  for  local  school  taxes 
was  unconstitutional  and  could  not  be  enforced.  And  with  public 
opinion  so  strongly  against  the  levying  of  school  taxes  under  the 
radical  regime,  the  entire  school  system  was  practically  inoperative. 

The  legislature  which  met  in  the  fall  of  1870  was  largely  con- 
servative and  concerned  itself  almost  entirely  with  the  impeach- 
ment of  Governor  Holden.  But  two  acts  of  educational  importance 
were  passed.  One  reduced  the  salary  of  the  state  superintendent 
from  $2400  to  $1500,  removed  the  clerical  force  of  that  officer,  and 
allowed  him  no  funds  for  traveling  expenses ;  the  other  looked  to 

1See  Knight,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina,  for  a  fuller 
discussion  of  the  schools  in  North  Carolina  during  reconstruction. 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION        369 

the  better  protection  of  the  literary  fund.  Both  acts  reflected  reac- 
tion to  the  radical  regime,  and  that  reaction  continued  for  many 
years  after  the  final  overthrow  of  reconstruction.  In  the  fall  of 
1871  conservative  influence  enacted  a  new  school  law  to  take  the 
place  of  that  of  1869  and  with  more  liberal  provisions  for  public 
education.  Among  these  provisions  was  that  of  a  property  and  a 
special  capitation  tax  for  school  support.  Plans  were  also  pro- 
vided for  institutes  for  the  training  of  teachers,  and  the  report  of 
the  superintendent  for  1872  was  much  better  than  that  of  any 
previous  reconstruction  reports  of  the  school  work  of  the  State.1 
But  conditions  were  yet  far  from  satisfactory.  The  principle  of 
public  taxation  for  school  support  was  receiving  wider  acceptance, 
but  its  application  to  the  needs  and  conditions  of  the  State  was  a 
more  difficult  task.  Moreover,  the  fear  of  mixed  schools  and  the 
agitation  in  Congress  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  added  confusion 
and  |  alarm. 

Bfetween  1873  and  1875  only  slight  improvement  appeared.  The 
concluding  steps  to  overthrow  the  rule  of  reconstruction  were  taken 
in/the  constitutional  convention  of  1875,  however,  and  in  the  cam- 
paign which  followed  the  next  year  the  work  of  the  convention 
was  of  great  political  and  social  importance,  because  many  changes 
were  made  which  promised  the  promotion  of  better  government  in 
the  State.  Among  the  educational  changes  of  the  new  constitution 
was  the  requirement  for  separate  schools  for  the  children  of  the  two 
races,  removing  finally  the  fear  of  the  possibility  of  mixed  schools. 

The  new  constitution  went  into  effect  January  i,  1877,  and  two 
significant  educational  acts  were  passed  by  the  first  legislature 
meeting  under  it.  One  act  established  two  normal  schools — one 
for  each  race — and  provided  for  their  maintenance.  The  other 
gave  authority  to  townships  of  a  certain  size  to  levy  special  taxes 
for  public  graded  schools.  Conditions  appeared  more  promising, 
and  Dr.  Sears  of  the  Peabody  Board  reported  that  the  tide  of 

1  Ashley  resigned  when  the  Legislature  reduced  his  salary,  and  Alexan- 
der Mclver,  a  professor  in  the  State  University,  was  appointed  by  the 
governor  to  fill  the  vacancy. 


370  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

public  opinion  had  been  turned  in  favor  of  education  and  would 
thereafter  be  difficult  to  resist. 

In  many  respects  public  education  in  North  Carolina  during  re- 
construction suffers  when  compared  with  that  of  the  ante-bellum 
period.  Teachers  were  paid  a  higher  salary  in  North  Carolina 
before  the  war  than  during  reconstruction  or  until  after  1900.  A 
larger  percentage  of  the  school  population  was  enrolled  in  school 
in  1860  than  at  any  time  during  reconstruction.  Moreover,  the 
reconstruction  regime  failed  to  improve  the  provisions  for  state, 
county,  and  local  administrative  organization  and  supervision. 
Finally,  evidence  is  strong  that  had  the  native  conservative  element 
of  the  State  been  free  to  act  without  unwholesome  influences  from 
the  outside  a  safer  and  more  adequate  educational  plan  than  that 
supplied  by  reconstruction  would  have  been  outlined  and  promoted. 

Superintendent  Jillson  made  his  first  report  on  the  schools  of 
South  Carolina  before  the  new  school  law  described  in  the  preced- 
ing chapter  had  been  enacted  for  that  State.  He  complained  that 
the  failure  of  the  Legislature  to  pass  a  school  law  at  its  regular 
session  of  1868-1869  had  kept  the  department  in  a  state  of  com- 
parative inactivity  for  nearly  a  year,  with  the  result  that  the  chil- 
dren and  youth  of  "this  commonwealth  are  daily  growing  up  in 
ignorance — a  state  which  leads  to  poverty  and  crime."  The  re- 
port, therefore,  covered  the  work  accomplished  under  the  act  to 
provide  for  the  temporary  organization  of  the  educational  depart- 
ment of  the  State,  which  was  passed  in  September,  1868. 

Many  difficulties  confronted  the  new  system  from  the  outset. 
Inexperience  of  school  officers,  lack  of  suitable  houses,  scarcity  of 
good  teachers,  indifference  and  impatience  of  the  people,  insuffi- 
cient school  support,  the  hatred  of  mixed  schools,  and  defective 
legislation  were  some  of  the  more  stubborn  obstacles.  In  most 
instances  the  school  officers  entered  upon  their  duties  with  little  or 
no  experience  to  aid  them  in  their  tasks ;  but  few  of  the  school- 
houses  were  the  property  of  the  State,  and  many  of  those  in  use 
were  "most  miserable  affairs,  entirely  destitute  of  even  the  most 
rude  and  simple  comforts  and  conveniences  of  a  modern  school 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION        371 

room."  The  superintendent  urged  legislative  authority  to  enable 
local  communities  to  raise  funds  to  remedy  the  defect.  The  em- 
ployment of  inefficient  and  incompetent  teachers  was  an  evil  per- 
haps more  keenly  felt  than  any  other,  and  this  condition  persisted 
throughout  the  reconstruction  period  and  even  later.  "Probably 
no  State  in  the  union  is  so  cursed  with  poor  teachers  as  South 
Carolina,"  said  the  superintendent.  Native  white  teachers  reluc- 
tantly assumed  charge  of  schools,  native  colored  teachers  as  a 
class  were  almost  wholly  incompetent,  and  it  was  equally  difficult 
to  secure  teachers  from  abroad.  The  evil  was  believed  to  be  largely 
the  fault  of  the  county  boards  of  examiners,  who  granted  certifi- 
cates to  persons  "  whose  ignorance  was  glaringly  apparent  to  the 
most  careless  observer."  Moreover,  the  small  salaries  which  they 
received  and  the  uncertainty  of  final  payment  decreased  the  num- 
ber of  the  better  class  of  teachers.  The  unfulfilled  promises  of 
the  legislature  to  pay  the  school  appropriations  closed  many  of  the 
schools  in  1872.  Public  confidence  was  betrayed,  and  teachers 
were  unable  to  obtain  their  salaries  on  presentation  of  their  certifi- 
cates to  the  county  treasurers.  In  many  cases  the  teachers  were 
forced  to  dispose  of  their  certificates  at  "unreasonable  and  oppres- 
sive rates  of  discount  to  other  parties  who  are  doubtless  either  in 
collusion  with  or  in  the  interest  or  employ  of,  sharks  and  shavers 
connected  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  county  treasury." 

The  superintendent  complained  from  time  to  time  of  the  natural 
apathy  and  impatience  of  the  people  throughout  the  State.  Some 
appeared  "sadly  indifferent  concerning  educational  matters,  not 
caring  whether  school  keeps  or  not."  They  also  seemed  to  com- 
plain because  the  advantages  of  the  system  did  not  immediately 
appear  throughout  the  entire  State.  Some  opposition  developed 
because  of  the  cost  of  maintaining  schools.  The  theory  that  edu- 
cation is  a  matter  for  the  individual  or  the  family  and  not  the 
State  had  well  developed  in  South  Carolina  before  the  war,  and 
the  effect  of  this  philosophy  was  difficult  to  overcome.  Through- 
out the  entire  period  the  schools  were  in  great  need  of  funds.  Al- 
though the  constitution  was  clear  on  the  subject  of  state  support, 


372  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

providing  for  the  entire  capitation  tax  to  be  applied  to  this  pur- 
pose, the  poll  tax  soon  appeared  to  be  a  very  unreliable  source  of 
school  revenue.  Moreover,  the  constitution  required  the  general 
assembly  to  lay  a  property  tax  for  schools,  but  the  Legislature  was 
slow,  and  it  was  not  until  1873  that  such  a  tax  was  levied. 

The  reconstruction  regime  has  been  credited  with  extraordinary 
interest  in  education  by  reason  of  so-called  legislative  appropria- 
tions for  schools.1  The  general  assemblies  did  appear  liberal  and 
wise  in  this  matter,  but  in  most  of  the  Southern  States,  especially 
South  Carolina,  their  appropriations  seem  not  to  have  been  paid 
fully  or  even  in  large  part.2 

The  presence  and  influence  of  the  negro  in  political,  educational, 
and  social  affairs  also  served  to  complicate  an  otherwise  anomalous 
condition  in  the  State.  Just  how  far  the  promoters  of  the  mixed- 
school  legislation  expected  to  extend  is  a  matter  for  conjecture,  but 
that  it  was  perhaps  the  unwisest  action  of  the  period  is  a  certainty, 
for  it  lent  itself  to  a  most  unfortunate  and  damaging  reaction  for 
many  years  after  the  return  to  home  rule.  The  principal  objection 
raised  to  the  school  system  during  this  time  arose  from  the  fear 
and  hatred  of  mixed  schools,  which  were  not  demanded  by  either 
race.  On  the  contrary,  both  races  were  violently  opposed  to 
the  scheme,  and  the  friends  of  the  schools  constantly  urged  the 
adoption  of  separate  schools.  But  the  agitation  in  Congress  of  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill  had  the  effect  of  aggravating  a  prejudice  which 
had  begun  to  develop  with  the  state  constitutional  provision  for 
mixed  schools. 

The  damaging  effect  of  the  policy  can  be  seen  in  the  case  of  the 
university,  known  before  the  war  as  the  South  Carolina  College. 
This  institution  had  a  very  creditable  career  and  an  extensive  influ- 
ence from  1 80 1,  when  it  was  chartered,  until  the  war,  when  it  was 
severely  crippled.  After  the  political  conditions  began  to  adjust 
themselves  the  institution  was  reopened,  but  a  radical  change  in 

1One  of  the  largest  items  in  the  budgets  of  reconstruction  was  for  schools. 
— Dunning,  Reconstruction  Political  and  Economic,  p.  206 

2  See  Knight,  Reconstruction  and  Education  in  South  Carolina. 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       373 

1869  in  the  personnel  of  its  trustees  and  the  admission  of  negro 
students  so  increased  distrust  and  apprehension  that  most  of  the 
white  students  left.  In  1873,  when  the  state  normal  school  was 
organized,  it  was  located  in  one  of  the  university  buildings.  The 
university  professors  were  required  to  lecture  to  the  normal  stu- 
dents, the  majority  of  whom  were  negroes,  and  the  university 
library  was  also  to  be  used  by  the  normal  school.  Until  this  time 
the  negroes  had  made  but  few  attempts  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
privileges  of  the  university,  though  there  were  grave  apprehensions 
that  its  usefulness  would  be  jeopardized  by  the  policy  of  the  domi- 
nant party. 

In  1873  Henry  E.  Hayne,  the  negro  secretary  of  State,  entered 
the  school  of  medicine.  Though  "neither  vindicative  nor  aggres- 
siVe"  he  had  aroused  a  prejudice  among  the  white  people  two 
years  before  in  going  to  a  communion  table  at  a  mission  church. 
This  incident  created  such  a  sensation  that  the  mission  was  finally 
suspended.  When  he  registered  in  the  university  three  members 
o^  the  faculty  resigned.  In  accepting  the  resignations  the  trustees 
Announced  their  pleasure  that  "  a  spirit  so  hostile  to  the  welfare  of 
our  State  .  .  .  will  no  longer  be  represented  in  the  university, 
which  is  the  common  property  of  all  our  citizens  without  distinc- 
tion of  race."  Negroes  now  entered  the  institution  in  large  num- 
bers, among  them  the  negro  treasurer  of  the  State,  E.  L.  Cardozo, 
and  other  adults.  In  a  short  time  nearly  nine  tenths  of  the  stu- 
dents, numbering  nearly  two  hundred,  were  negroes.  In  1877  the 
institution  was  closed,  but  it  was  opened  again  three  years  later  as 
the  College  of  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Arts. 

Defects  in  the  school  law,  which  was  made  hurriedly  by  legisla- 
tors who  had  little  knowledge  of  conditions  for  which  they  were 
providing,  were  other  obstacles  which  continued  in  South  Carolina 
throughout  the  period.  Lack  of  adequate  authority  for  cities, 
towns,  and  local  districts  to  raise  special  taxes  for  educational 
purposes  was  a  crying  need  of  the  period.  Adequate  provision 
for  training  and  certificating  teachers  was  also  greatly  needed, 
as  well  as  provisions  for  a  more  businesslike  and  safe  business 


374  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

administration  of  the  system.  Complaints  were  constantly  made 
against  the  lax  methods  of  handling  school  finances, — a  complaint 
universal  in  the  South  during  these  years.  The  collection  of  the 
poll  tax  was  loosely  conducted;  frequently  only  those  who  had 
taxable  property  were  required  to  pay  it,  and  failure  to  pay  this 
tax  did  not  disfranchise. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  during  this  period  the  State  was 
not  under  home  rule  and  that  there  was  little  chance  for  native 
white  leadership  in  political  or  educational  effort.  Moreover,  the 
State  was  pitiably  bankrupt.  The  Legislature  was  largely  com- 
posed of  illiterate  negroes,  local  political  puppets,  and  designing 
demagogues,  whose  policy  was  one  of  stolid  opposition  to  white 
leadership.  Flagrant  bribery  schemes  were  common,  political  posi- 
tions were  bought  and  sold  as  a  common  commodity,  fraud  and 
extravagance  created  enormous  debts,  constituting  a  colossal  re- 
proach to  the  State.  These  abnormal  and  irregular  conditions 
naturally  reached  the  school  system  and  made  it  "worse  than 
a  failure."  And  it  required  many  years  for  the  schools  of  the 
State  to  recover  from  the  setback  given  them  by  the  rule  of 
reconstruction. 

Under  an  abundance  of  legislative  authority  the  board  of  educa- 
tion of  Alabama  began  to  set  the  new  school  system  in  operation 
in  that  State  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1868.  Dr.  N.  B.  Cloud  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  schools.  The  new  system  did  not 
differ  very  materially  from  that  of  ante-bellum  days  except  in  con- 
stitutional declaration  that  the  schools  were  to  be  entirely  free  to 
the  children  of  the  State.  Two  real  difficulties,  however,  imme- 
diately confronted  the  plan.  One  was  the  extreme  difficulty  of 
securing  competent  local  officers  to  assist  in  the  administration  of 
the  laws,  and  the  other  was  the  serious  lack  of  funds  with  which 
to  establish  and  maintain  for  a  creditable  term  a  sufficient  number 
of  schools.  There  was  no  legislative  provision  for  capitation  or 
property  taxation  for  the  schools,  and  they  were  forced  to  depend 
on  the  income  from  the  permanent  fund,  which  was  largely  a  paper 
fund,  and  on  the  legislative  appropriation  of  $100,000,  which  was 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       375 

not  always  dependable.  Moreover,  local  school  officers  employed 
teachers  and  opened  schools  without  knowing  the  amount  of  the 
funds  available  from  the  State.  And  the  lack  of  funds  led  to 
the  opening  of  a  large  number  of  schools  which  "accomplished 
nothing."  There  were  too  many  children  for  the  teachers  and  too 
many  teachers  for  the  funds  available.  "  The  sum  total  of  schools 
and  pupils  made  a  large  show  upon  paper,"  but  the  schools  were 
generally  closed  "  before  the  pupils  had  time  to  learn  the  alphabet." 

Carelessness  and  mismanagement  were  other  causes  of  slow  and 
unsatisfactory  growth  of  public  schools  in  the  State.  A  large 
number  of  incompetent  men  had  been  county  superintendents  in 
1868.  They  were  described  as  "  ignorant,  dilatory,  or  unmindful 
of  their  plain  duties,"  and  as  the  real  reason  for  the  decrease  in 
school  interests.  In  1870  the  Legislature,  which  was  conservative, 
had  appointed  a  commission  to  examine  the  office  and  work  of  the 
state  superintendent,  and  the  report  showed  evidence  of  careless- 
ness and  unsystematic  management  of  the  school  work.  Cloud  was 
charged  with  paying  out  the  school  funds  "  without  due  regard  to 
the  interest  of  the  State,"  but  it  was  shown  that  this  had  been  done 
with  the  consent  of  the  attorney  general.  The  governor  referred  to 
the  report  as  showing  "not  only  an  unsatisfactory,  but  a  most 
shameful  and  reprehensible  state  of  things.  The  facts  set  forth  by 
the  commissioners  are  surely  a  stern  condemnation  of  the  manage- 
ment of  our  educational  system  during  the  past  year." 

From  1870  to  1872  Joseph  Hodgson,  conservative,  was  super- 
intendent, and  during  this  period  there  was  a  reorganization  of  the 
board  of  education.  In  the  winter  of  1870  legislation  was  enacted 
which  looked  to  an  improvement  in  the  school  conditions.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  election  of  county  and  local  district  school 
officers  so  as  to  make  available  for  their  positions  some  of  the  best 
men  in  the  State,  and  attempts  were  also  made  to  economize  in  the 
expenses  of  administration.  In  a  year  these  expenses  were  reduced 
nearly  50  per  cent.  Reforms  of  the  system  of  accounting  were 
likewise  undertaken,  since  it  had  been  found  that  more  than 
$260,000  drawn  from  the  state  treasury  since  1868  was  not 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

accounted  for  and  that  more  than  $210,000  in  warrants  was  still 
unpaid.  More  than  $124,000  for  the  years  from  1868  to  1871  had 
not  been  certified  by  the  auditor  to  local  school  officers,  and  there 
was  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  total  of  more  than  $940,000  due  the 
schools  by  the  treasury,  an  amount  larger  than  the  entire  revenue 
of  the  State. 

The  result  of  the  superintendent's  critical  review  of  the  financial 
condition  of  the  school  system  led  to  a  controversy  between  that 
officer  and  the  auditor  of  the  State  not  altogether  unlike  the  con- 
troversy in  Virginia  a  few  years  later  over  a  similar  condition  (see 
pp.  341  ff.).  A  provision  in  the  Alabama  law  permitted  the  county 
superintendents  to  draw  in  advance  the  county's  quota  of  school 
funds,  a  privilege  which  led  to  a  dangerous  practice  of  misusing  or 
allowing  such  funds  to  remain  idle.1  This  provision  of  the  law  was 
repealed,  however,  in  January,  1871.  Concerning  the  custom 
in  Alabama  the  auditor  of  that  State  said: 

Sound  policy  would  dictate  that  no  money  be  drawn  from  the  state 
treasury  until  earned  in  the  various  townships,  and  when  drawn  by  the 
county  superintendents,  it  should  be  for  direct  transmission  to  the 
teachers  by  whom  it  was  earned.  No  county  superintendent  should  be 
allowed  to  retain  thousands  of  dollars,  belonging  to  the  State  for  the 
use  of  schools,  for  a  term  of  months,  especially  when  the  treasury 
became  embarrassed  by  such  action. 

After  the  change  in  administration  in  1870  the  school  system 
began  to  show  slight  signs  of  improvement.  By  1872  the  term  had 
been  increased  35  per  cent,  available  school  funds  had  been  in- 
creased more  than  17  per  cent,  and  the  average  attendance  had 
more  than  doubled  in  the  two  years.  An  organization  of  the  teach- 
ers of  the  State  was  formed,  teachers'  institutes  were  developing 
with  a  degree  of  success  and  satisfaction,  four  normal  schools  for 
each  race  were  established,  the  school  laws  were  gradually  being 

1  Compare  this  practice  with  that  allowed  in  Virginia  before  the  war  (see 
pp.  211  ff.). 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       377 

improved,  and  public  education  was  beginning  slowly  to  make  a 
different  and  more  wholesome  appeal  to  the  people. 

Reconstruction  had  practically  ended  in  Alabama,  so  far  as 
the  schools  were  concerned,  in  1870,  when  the  conservatives  got 
control.  Considerable  progress  was  made,  however,  during  the 
next  two  years.  But  in  1872  politics  again  favored  the  radicals, 
and  Joseph  H.  Speed,  one  of  them,  became  the  head  of  the  public- 
school  system.  One  of  his  initial  public  acts  was  that  of  making 
political  capital  of  the  argument  of  his  conservative  opponents 
by  urging  retrenchment  and  severe  economy  in  public  education. 
He  declared  that  "every  dollar  of  the  public  school  fund  and  the 
university  fund  given  the  State  by  the  general  government  has 
either  been  squandered  or  lost.  Let  us  satisfy  our  tax-burdened 
people  that  every  cent  of  their  money  shall  be  honestly,  judi- 
ciously, and  economically  expended,  and  that  all  disbursing  school 
officers  shall  be  held  to  the  severest  account.  ...  It  has  been 
represented  that  many  county  superintendents  of  education  are 
in  default.  .  .  .  Those  who  have  been  unfaithful  and  dishonest 
(if  such  there  be)  in  applying  and  using  the  money  raised  for 
the  education  of  the  poor  children  of  our  State  should  not  go 
unpunished." 

By  this  time  it  had  come  to  be  generally  recognized  that  the 
schools  were  in  desperate  financial  difficulties  and  that  the  State 
had  more  teachers  and  more  schools  than  the  available  funds 
could  afford.  And  in  December,  1872,  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion, which  was  still  using  its  wide  legislative  powers,  ordered  the 
closing  of  all  schools  after  January  i,  1873,  until  the  local  trustees 
were  assured  by  the  state  superintendent  that  sufficient  funds  were 
available  for  the  prompt  payment  of  the  teachers.  As  a  result, 
Alabama  had  practically  no  public  schools  from  January  to  Octo- 
ber of  1873  except  a  few  which  were  supported  by  local  funds. 
Improvement  was  sought  by  legislative  enactment  in  April  of  that 
year  and  by  a  memorial  to  Congress  about  the  same  time.  But 
both  the  legislation  and  the  memorial  proved  insufficient,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  following  November  that  the  authorities  were 


378  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

frank  enough  with  themselves  and  the  public  to  face  the  facts. 
At  that  time  they  acknowledged  that  there  was  no  legislation  to 
enforce  the  provision  of  the  constitution  that  the  school  revenues 
"shall  be  inviolably  appropriated  to  educational  purposes  and  to 
no  other  purpose  whatever."  It  was  further  set  forth  that  since 
the  organization  of  the  system  in  1868  there  had  been  no  legisla- 
tive regard  for  that  provision  of  the  constitution,  but  that  each 
year  had  seen  an  increasing  amount  of  the  school  fund  diverted 
to  the  general  expenses  of  the  State.  This  condition  had  forced 
the  schools  to  close. 

During  the  next  few  years  considerable  improvement  was  no- 
ticed in  the  operation  of  the  system.  Among  other  things  the 
school  term  reached  ninety  days  for  the  white  and  eighty-three 
days  for  the  colored  children.  In  1874  the  conservatives  again 
assumed  control,  and  the  following  year  a  new  constitution  was 
adopted  to  supersede  that  of  1868.  Improvement  was  sought  by 
making  provision  for  more  adequate  school  revenues,  by  making 
such  funds  available  when  needed,  by  legislation  to  regulate 
the  schools  wisely  and  disburse  the  funds  properly,  and  by  seek- 
ing a  better  type  of  county  superintendent.  Even  with  these 
attempts  at  improvement,  however,  it  was  difficult  for  many  years 
for  the  schools  to  gain  properly  in  strength  and  influence.  The 
unwise  behavior  of  the  reconstructionists  had  here  as  in  other 
Southern  States  held  out  false  hopes  to  the  people,  who  were  led 
to  expect  too  much  from  the  new  school  plan  that  came  in  1868. 
The  constitution  of  1868  had  introduced  foreign  elements  and 
ideas,  but  all  changes  "  tended  back  toward  the  ante-bellum  norm." 
It  seems  clear  that  the  Alabama  system  of  public  education  grew 
out  of  the  actual  experiences  of  the  people  of  that  State.  In  his 
report  in  November,  1876,  which  covered  the  work  of  the  schools 
for  the  two  preceding  years,  Superintendent  John  M.  McKleroy 
said: 

In  that  period  great  improvement  and  advancement  has  been  made. 
The  principle  of  the  power  and  propriety  of  a  State  to  maintain  a  sys- 
tem of  free  public  education  has  been  affirmed  in  unmistakable  terms 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       379 

by  the  people  of  this  State,  and  they  have  implanted  it  in  the  constitu- 
tion made  by  themselves,  and  in  the  same  instrument  they  have  made 
liberal  provisions  for  its  support,  thus  guaranteeing  its  permanency 
and  usefulness. 

By  July,  1870,  the  technical  part  of  the  reconstruction  process 
had  been  completed,  with  the  enactment  of  legislation  which  de- 
clared Georgia  entitled  to  representation  in  Congress.  By  that 
time  the  Southern  States  which  had  formed  the  Confederacy  had 
been  made  over  by  the  formation  of  new  governments  and  the 
creation  of  a  new  political  people.  Passionate  political  feelings 
were  involved  in  every  step  of  this  process  and  grave  errors  were 
committed.  Not  the  least  grave  of  these  was  the  sudden  and  indis- 
criminate gift  of  the  ballot  to  men  who  were  entirely  unprepared 
for  its  intelligent  use.  Even  in  this  policy  partisan  purposes  had 
'entered  fully.  A  natural  result,  as  may  be  seen  in  this  chapter,  was  a 
serious  crippling  of  schools  and  a  deadening  of  public  interest  in 
education,  for  during  the  regime  of  riot  and  rascality  the  schools 
fell  victim  to  the  vengeance  and  cupidity  of  adventurers  and 
malefactors.  But  before  the  last  State  was  restored  to  relations 
with  the  Union  the  process  for  undoing  reconstruction  was  well 
under  way.  By  1876  the  first  period  in  the  undoing  had  come  to 
an  end,  and  the  white  people  of  the  South  were  able  to  resume 
control  of  affairs.  A  second  period  began  shortly  afterwards  and 
continued  for  more  than  two  decades,  during  which  time  par- 
tisan feelings  ran  high  and  conflicts  over  the  elimination  of  the 
negro  from  politics  were  fierce  and  demoralizing.  The  final  stage 
of  the  unhappy  reconstruction  controversy  which  followed  the 
surrender  at  Appomattox  was  destined  to  close,  in  a  most  singular 
manner,  in  a  complete  reversal  of  the  policy  and  process  which 
marked  its  beginning.  During  those  two  or  more  decades  of  tur- 
moil, confusion,  and  bitterness  the  schools  were  again  subordinated 
and  often  even  sacrificed  to  less  worthy  interests,  and  the  education 
of  both  whites  and  blacks  fell  pitiably  into  neglect.  And  in  some 
of  the  Southern  States  public  educational  conditions  were  less 
wholesome  and  reassuring  in  the  nineties  than  in  1860. 


380  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  cost  to  the  South  of  those  eight  years  of  reconstruction 
(from  1868  to  1876)  can  never  be  accurately  calculated.  But  even 
in  those  values  which  can  be  measured  it  is  highly  probable 
that  reconstruction  cost  the  South  more  than  the  war  had  cost. 
When  reconstruction  had  ended  in  1876,  the  personal  property 
that  had  remained  at  the  close  of  the  war  had  almost  entirely  dis- 
appeared at  the  hands  of  the  reconstructionists.  But  the  people  of 
the  South  bore  with  remarkable  fortitude  and  courage  their  sense 
of  defeat,  as  bitter  as  that  had  been.  Nor  did  they  repine  at  their 
loss  of  property,  even  by  the  force  of  arms,  or  at  the  disruption  of 
their  social  system  or  the  destruction  of  their  distinctive  civiliza- 
tion, of  which  the  rest  of  the  country  has  never  had  any  accurate 
idea.  These  were  no  little  burdens  to  bear,  but  the  people  as- 
sumed them  bravely  and  went  to  work  again — many  of  them  with 
spirited  energy  and  courage — to  build  on  the  memory  of  the  old  a 
new  civilization.  Between  1876  and  the  reawakening  that  began 
to  appear  near  the  close  of  the  century,  heroic  effort  was  made  at 
educational  readjustment  and  development  in  the  South.  But  the 
task  was  difficult  and  discouraging,  and  only  slight  educational 
progress  was  achieved.  But  the  little  work  that  was  accomplished 
stands  as  testimony  to  the  faith  of  the  people,  who  were  unwilling 
to  be  defeated  by  the  obstacles  which  the  crime  of  reconstruction 
had  left  as  a  heritage  for  their  children. 

Most  of  the  perplexing  problems  which  confront  public  educa- 
tion in  the  South  today  grew  out  of  the  mistakes  of  reconstruction. 
To  the  consideration  of  those  problems  and  of  the  efforts  that  have 
been  made  to  solve  them  the  remaining  chapters  will  be  devoted. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Why  were  the  elaborate  constitutional  and  legislative  provisions 
for  public-school  support  and  administration  in  the  Southern  States 
during  reconstruction  insufficient  for  the  safe  and  adequate  develop- 
ment of  schools?  In  what  way  or  ways  did  such  provisions  prove  to 
be  ineffective  in  your  State  ? 


EDUCATION  DURING  RECONSTRUCTION       381 

2.  What  was  the  chief  weakness  of  public  education  in  your  State 
between  1868  and  1876?    What  signs  of  improvement  appeared  after 
the  latter  date  ?  In  what  way  did  such  signs  fail  ? 

3.  List  and  trace  to  their  origin  the  principal  causes  of  the  slow 
growth  of  public  education  in  the  South  between  1876  and  1900. 

4.  Study  the  influence  of  the  following  factors  on  public  education 
in  your  State  during  reconstruction  :    (a)  Freedmen's  Bureau,  (6)  Civil 
Rights  Bill,  (c)  prominent  place  of  the  freedmen  in  politics,  (d)  mis- 
management and  diversion  of  school  funds,  (e)  incompetence  of  school 
officials,  (/)  defective  legislation,  (g)  outside  educational  agencies  of  a 
private  or  philanthropic  nature. 

6.  List  the  best  educational  influences  at  work  in  your  State  during 
the  period  under  discussion. 

6.  Explain  the  meaning  of  "the  undoing"  of  reconstruction.    Why 
were  public  schools  involved  and  subordinated  in  this  process  no  less 
perhaps  than  in  the  process  of  reconstruction  itself  ? 

7.  List  the  problems  of  public  education  in  your  State  today  that 
had  their  beginnings  in  reconstruction. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  APPLETON,  The  American 
Annual  Cyclopedia  for  1868  to  1877.  BARNARD,  The  American  Journal  oj 
Education,  30  vols.  Hartford,  1855-1881.  Circulars  of  information,  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education :  BUSH,  History  of  Education  in  Florida  (Wash- 
ington, 1889) ;  CLARK,  History  of  Education  in  Alabama  (Washington,  1889) ; 
FAY,  History  of  Education  in  Louisiana  (Washington,  1898) ;  JONES,  Educa- 
tion in  Georgia  (Washington,  1889) ;  LANE,  History  of  Education  in  Texas 
(Washington,  1903) ;  MAYES,  History  of  Education  in  Mississippi  (Washing- 
ton, 1899)  >  MERIWETHER,  History  of  Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina 
(Washington,  1899) ;  SMITH,  History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina 
(Washington,  1888).  DAVIS,  The  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Florida. 
New  York,  1913.  DUNNING,  Essays  on  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction. 
New  York,  1897.  DUNNING,  Reconstruction  Political  and  Economic.  New 
York,  1907.  ECKENRODE,  The  Political  History  of  Virginia  during  the  Re- 
construction. Baltimore,  1904.  FICKLEN,  History  of  Reconstruction  in 
Louisiana  through  1868.  Baltimore,  1910.  FLEMING,  Civil  War  and  Re- 
construction in  Alabama.  New  York,  1905.  FLEMING,  Documentary  History 
of  Reconstruction,  2  vols.  Cleveland,  1906,  1907.  GARNER,  Reconstruction 
in  Mississippi.  New  York,  1910.  GARNER  (Ed.),  Studies  in  Southern 
History  and  Politics  (inscribed  to  William  A.  Dunning).  New  York,  1914. 


382  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


HAMILTON,  Reconstruction  in  North  Carolina.  New  York,  1914.  HARRELL, 
The  Brooks-Baxter  War.  St.  Louis,  1893.  HEATWOLE,  History  of  Educa- 
tion in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  HOLLIS,  The  Early  Period  of  Recon- 
struction in  South  Carolina.  Baltimore,  1905.  HOWARD,  Autobiography, 
2  vols.  New  York,  1907.  Journals  of  thtf  Legislature  of  the  vari- 
ous States.  KENDRICK,  The  Journal  of  the  Joint  Committee  of  Fifteen  on 
Reconstruction.  New  York,  1914.  KNIGHT^  The  Influence  of  Reconstruc- 
tion on  Education  in  the  South.  New  York,  1913.  KNIGHT,  Public  School 
Education  in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.  KNIGHT,  "Reconstruction  and 
Education  in  South  Carolina/,'  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for  October, 
1919,  and  January,  1920.. ' KNIGHT,  "Reconstruction  and  Education  in  Vir- 
\  ginia,"  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for  January  and  April,  1916.  KNIGHT, 
\  j  "  Some  Fallacies  concerning  the  History  of  Education  in  the  South,"  in  the 
~"~*  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for  October,  1914.  NOBLE,  Forty  Years  of  the  Public 
Schools  of  Mississippi.  New  York,  1918.  PERRY,  "The  Genesis  of  Public 
Education  in  Alabama,"  in  ^Transactions  of  the  Alabama  Historical  So- 
ciety, Vol.  II,  1897-1898.  RLKEj^The  Prostrate  State,  or  South  Carolina 
under  Negro  Rule.  New  York^  1874.  POORE,  The  Federal  and  State  Con- 
stitutions, 2  vols.  Washington,  "1877.  Proceedings  of  the  Peabody  Board 
Trustees,  for  1867  to  1877.  Cambridge;  annual  after  1867.  Public  Docu- 
ments of  the  various  States  (including  reports  of  the  various  state  officers, 
messages  of  the  governors,  and  accompanying  papers) .  RAMAGE,  Local  Gov- 
ernment and  Free  Schools  in  South  Carolina.  Baltimore,  1883.  RAMSDELL, 
Reconstruction  in  Texas.  New  York,  1910.  Reports  of  the  superintendent  of 
public  instruction  of  the  various  States.  REYNOLDS,  Reconstruction  in  South 
Carolina.  Columbia,  1905.  THOMPSON,  Reconstruction  in  Georgia.  New 
York,  1915.  THORPE,  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  7  vols.  Washington, 
1909.  WALLACE,  Carpetbag  Rule  in  Florida.  Jacksonville,  1888.  WEEKS, 
"Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  and  the  Organization  of  the  Common  Schools  of 
North  Carolina,"  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion for  1896-1897,  Vol.  II.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Education 
in  Arkansas.  Washington,  1912.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public  School  Educa- 
tion in  Tennessee  (examined  in  manuscript) .  WEEKS,  Public  School  Education 
in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915. 


CHAPTER  XI 
EEABODY  FUND  AND  RISE  OF  CITY  SCHOOLS 

/Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  The  Peabody  Fund  was  a  highly  bene- 
fiefial  influence  to  education  in  the  South.  Its  primary  object  was  to 
promote  common-school  education. 

2.  The  fund  was  to  be  distributed  on  certain  sound  principles  which 
were   adhered   to   throughout   its    operation.    "Free   schools    for  the 
whole  people"  was  its  motto. 

3.  The  beneficiary  States  were  the  members  of  the  Confederacy 
and  West  Virginia. 

4.  Work  in  Alabama  began  early  and  was  productive  of  wholesome 
results.    At  first  difficulties  were  met  in  Arkansas,  which  was  in  a 
"state  of  complete  anarchy,"  but  improvement  finally  appeared. 

5.  Conditions  were   discouraging  in  Florida,  but  by   1878  prog- 
ress began  to  appear.    That  State  was  denied  the  benefits  of  the  fund 
between  1885  and  1893.    Georgia  early  participated  in  the  appropria- 
tions from  the  fund,  which  strengthened  interest  in  that  State. 

6.  Conditions  made  it  difficult  for  the  fund  to  operate  very  satis- 
factorily in  Louisiana  before  1876.    Similar  conditions  operated  against 
the  work  in  Mississippi  until  the  same  time.    That  State  was  omitted 
from  the  list  of  beneficiary  States  between  1885  and  1893. 

7.  North  Carolina  was  among  the  first  and  the  largest  beneficiaries 
of  the  fund.    South  Carolina's  share  in  the  bounty  was  comparatively 
small,  though  considerable  good  was  accomplished  by  it. 

8.  The  work  of  the  fund  was  very  successful  in  Tennessee.   Texas 
received  the  smallest  share  before  1876.   After  that  date  appropriations 
increased. 

9.  Xfirginia  shared  more  bountifully  in  the  fund  than  any  of  the 
State^ 

10.  The  influence  of  the  fund  was  wide  and  definite  as  a  service  for 
promoting  town  and  city  school  systems  and  advancing  educational 
interests  generally. 

383 


384  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

During  the  discouraging  years  which  followed  the  war  a  highly 
beneficial  and  encouraging  educational  influence  came  to  the  South 
through  the  work  of  the  Peabody  Fund,  which  was  created  in  1867. 
George  Peabody,  the  donor  of  the  fund,  was  especially  interested 
in  public  education  and  created  the  fund  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
couraging and  promoting  schools  in  "  those  portions  of  our  beloved 
and  common  country  which  have  suffered  from  the  destructive 
ravages,  and  not  less  disastrous  consequences,  of  civil  war."  In 
his  letter  to  the  sixteen  trustees  whom  he  named  to  manage  and 
direct  the  work  of  the  fund  Mr.  Peabody  said : 

I  feel  most  deeply,  therefore,  that  it  is  the  duty  and  privilege  of  the 
most  favored  and  wealthy  portions  of  our  nation  to  assist  those  who 
are  less  fortunate ;  and  with  the  wish  to  discharge,  so  far  as  I  am 
able,  my  own  responsibility  in  this  matter,  as  well  as  to  gratify  my 
desire  to  aid  those  to  whom  I  am  bound  by  so  many  ties  of  attach- 
ment and  regard,  I  give  to  you,  gentlemen,  most  of  whom  have  been 
my  personal  and  especial  friends,  the  sum  of  one  million  of  dollars, 
to  be  by  you  and  your  successors  held  in  trust  and  the  income  thereof 
used  and  applied  in  your  discretion  for  the  promotion  and  encourage- 
ment of  intellectual,  moral,  or  industrial  education  among  the  young 
of  the  more  destitute  portions  of  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  States 
of  our  Union;  my  purpose  being  that  the  benefits  intended  shall  be 
distributed  among  the  entire  population,  without  other  distinction 
than  their  needs  and  the  opportunities  of  usefulness  to  them. 

The  leading  object  of  the  trustees,  as  set  forth  in  their  original 
plan,  was  the  promotion  of  primary  or  common-school  education, 
through  agencies  then  in  existence  or  that  might  be  created  in  the 
South.  The  other  chief  object  was  the  furtherance  of  normal- 
school  work  for  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers,  by  pro- 
viding scholarships  in  Southern  institutions  and  by  giving  aid  to 
normal  schools.  The  Reverend  Barnas  Sears,  president  of  Brown 
University,  was  named  as  general  agent  of  the  fund,  and  to  the 
delicate  and  difficult  duties  of  the  position  he  brought  rare  train- 
ing and  experience  and  great  resourcefulness  and  adaptability. 
He  took  up  his  residence  at  Staunton,  Virginia,  in  1867  and  for 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  385 

thirteen  years  rendered  the  South  a  high  order  of  genuine  educa- 
tional service. 

The  directions  of  Mr.  Peabody  were  that  the  principal  of  the 
fund  should  remain  intact  for  thirty  years.  It  could  not  be  ex- 
pended, neither  could  it  be  increased  by  accruing  interest ;  but  the 
method  of  using  the  annual  revenue,  as  well  as  the  final  disposi- 
tion of  the  original  endowment,  was  left  entirely  to  the  discretion 
of  the  trustees.  The  immediate  need  was  obviously  in  the  field  of 
elementary  instruction  for  the  masses  of  Southern  youth,  and  the 
trustees  early  determined  to  give  assistance  to  public  free  schools. 
Their  policy  was  to  cooperate  with  state  authorities  so  as  to  pre- 
vent disorder  and  to  secure  unity  and  strength  of  action.  The 
funds  were  not  to  be  distributed  as  a  charity  to  the  indigent.  This 
had  been  a  more  or  less  prevalent  ante-bellum  educational  practice 
in  several  of  the  Southern  States  and  had  proved  inadequate  to  any 
effectual  relief,  wasteful,  and  productive  of  no  valuable  results. 
Moreover,  the  funds  were  not  to  be  appropriated  according  to 
population  or  comparative  community  destitution  but  on  the  sound 
principle  of  helping  those  communities  which  would  help  them- 
selves. The  invariable  adherence  of  the  trustees  to  this  principle 
was  probably  the  greatest  single  educational  blessing  the  South 
ever  enjoyed.  The  purpose  was  to  stimulate  and  encourage  local 
initiative  and  community  effort. 

In  addition  to  confining  its  attention  to  public  free  schools  the 
fund  was  thoroughly  committed  to  the  following  principles  in  pro- 
moting educational  endeavor :  rendering  aid  to  schools  where  large 
numbers  of  children  could  be  gathered  and  where  a  model  system 
of  schools  could  be  organized  and  maintained ;  giving  preference  to 
those  places  which  showed  promise  of  influencing  the  surrounding 
community;  making  a  limited  number  of  schools  effective  rather 
than  undertaking  the  "multiplication  of  schools  languishing  for 
want  of  sufficient  support " ;  working  for  an  improvement  of  state 
systems  of  education, — "to  act  through  their  organs  and  to  make 
use  of  their  machinery  whenever"  such  agencies  were  offered; 
favoring  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  normal  schools  over 


386  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH! 

normal  departments  in  colleges  and  academies ;  giving  special  at- 
tention to  the  preparation  of  female  teachers  for  primary  schools, 
"rather  than  to  general  culture  of  young  men  in  colleges,  who  will 
be  likely  to  teach  in  the  higher  schools  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  " ; 
encouraging  colored  students  who  were  preparing  to  teach  to  at- 
tend regular  normal  schools ;  favoring  the  support  of  state  super- 
vision, the  formulation  of  state  teachers'  associations,  and  the 
publication  of  educational  periodicals. 

The  policy  of  the  fund  and  its  administration  was  thus  outlined. 
"Free  schools  for  the  whole  people"  became  its  motto  and  aim. 
And  the  conditions  on  which  every  appropriation  was  to  be  made 
were  precisely  those  needed  to  secure  cooperation  with  and  security 
for  the  plan.  No  other  method  could  have  created  or  assisted  in 
creating  a  wholesome  educational  sentiment  or  could  have  had  the 
effect  of  encouraging  local  taxation  for  public  schools.  The 
absence  of  any  element  of  charity  in  the  plan  of  distribution,  as  a 
means  to  temporary  relief,  illustrates  the  sound  judgment  which 
marked  the  entire  administration  of  the  trust. 

The  States  aided  by  the  fund  were  West  Virginia  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Confederacy,  all  of  which  participated  liberally  in  the 
distribution  of  the  bounty.  During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  opera- 
tion of  the  fund  nearly  a  million  dollars  was  distributed  by  it  to 
aid  public-school  education  in  the  South.  In  addition  to  appro- 
priations of  money  thousands  of  textbooks  were  also  distributed 
to  schools  in  the  Southern  States. 

Dr.  Sears  began  his  work  by  visiting  the  various  States,  con- 
ferring with  the  authorities,  and  offering  aid  to  those  communities 
which  showed  interest  in  the  development  of  a  system  of  free  pub- 
lic schools.  Systematic  and  detailed  reports  were  regularly  made 
to  the  trustees  of  the  general  agent's  work,  and  these  became  for 
nearly  thirty  years  one  of  the  most  reliable  and  satisfactory 
sources  of  information  concerning  public  education  in  the  South. 

Alabama  was  one  of  the  first  States  visited,  and  there  Sears 
found  that  on  account  of  the  sparsity  of  population  and  the  absence 
of  large  towns  there  was  need  for  stimulation  and  assistance. 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  387 

Aid  was  offered  to  Mobile,  Montgomery,  Talladega,  Marion, 
Uniontown,  Tuscaloosa,  and  Columbus,  and  in  all  these  places 
creditable  interest  in  education  appeared.  It  was  in  Mobile  that 
the  ante-bellum  school  system  in  Alabama  had  had  its  beginning. 
Experiments  had  been  made  there  as  early  as  1826,  and  these  con- 
tinued until  1852,  when  a  fairly  creditable  system  was  set  in  opera- 
tion and  continued  throughout  the  war.  It  was  forced  to  suspend 
in  the  spring  of  1865,  however,  though  the  schools  were  soon  reor- 
ganized. In  1868  the  town  was  maintaining  a  school  system  at  an 
annual  expense  of  $25,000,  but  the  impoverished  condition  of  the 
treasury  had  forced  resort  to  a  rate  bill  for  school  support.  In 
Montgomery  there  were  no  free  schools  in  1868,  and  a  majority 
of  the  children  were  "educated  only  in  the  streets."  These  and 
other  towns  complied  with  the  conditions  of  the  Peabody  Trustees 
and  soon  began  to  operate  creditable  schools. 

The  new  constitution  of  the  State  was  ratified  in  1868.  But  the 
first  school  law  enacted  under  the  reconstruction  regime  was  so 
repugnant  to  the  sentiments  of  the  people  that  it  could  not  be 
enforced.  It  met  with  considerable  opposition,  and  different  politi- 
cal views  proved  a  serious  hindrance  to  its  introduction.  In  conse- 
quence of  such  discouraging  circumstances  the  scale  of  the 
Peabody  operations  was  not  greatly  enlarged  for  several  years  after 
1868.  In  some  of  the  towns,  however,  litigation  over  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  state  and  local  officers  soon  succeeded  in  nullifying  previous 
agreements  made  with  the  Peabody  Board.  Moreover,  conflicts 
between  educational  legislation  of  the  State  and  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  state  board  of  education  proved  very  detrimental 
to  the  general  school  interests  of  the  State.  The  state  board,  by 
act  of  August  n,  1868,  declared  vacant  all  the  offices  of  county 
superintendents,  district  trustees,  and  school  commissioners.  Later 
the  board  exercised  its  authority  by  repealing  all  school  legisla- 
tion passed  before  July  i,  1868,  which  in  any  way  conflicted  with 
its  own  rules  and  regulations.  The  general  assembly,  jealous  of 
its  authority  and  in  retaliation,  consistently  opposed  the  measures 
of  the  state  board  and  often  repealed  the  acts  of  the  latter. 


388  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

These  conditions  were  not  the  only  obstacles  facing  the  schools. 
Here  as  elsewhere  in  the  South  school  funds  were  often  used  for 
other  purposes,  and  as  late  as  March,  1872,  only  two  counties  and 
two  cities  in  Alabama  had  levied  local  taxes  for  school  purposes. 
The  people  appeared  hostile  to  local  taxation,  and  in  order  to 
supplement  the  school  funds,  which  were  small  and  uncertain,  it 
was  necessary  to  resort  to  voluntary  contributions. 

But  the  Peabody  Board  continued  to  render  assistance  whenever 
possible.  In  1873  the  schools  in  Mobile  reported  some  progress, 
and  the  schools  in  other  communities  were  also  improving ;  re- 
stricted and  crippled  resources  were  the  chief  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  greater  success.  Except  in  the  towns  and  cities,  how- 
ever, the  year  seems  to  have  been  one  of  educational  inactivity, 
and  many  schools  were  closed  by  act  of  the  board  of  education  on 
account  of  the  depleted  condition  of  the  state  treasury.  But  the 
financial  embarrassment  from  which  the  schools  were  suffering  was 
somewhat  relieved  shortly  afterwards,  and  free  schools  were  gener- 
ally maintained.  Further  improvement  appeared  in  1875.  Public 
schools  for  each  race  were  maintained  in  practically  all  the  dis- 
tricts of  the  State  and  were  reported  more  popular  than  ever 
before.  In  the  country  the  school  term  was  nearly  five  months 
and  in  the  towns  almost  eight  months. 

The  conservatives  regained  control  of  the  state  government  in 
1875,  and  a  new  constitution  went  into  operation  in  December  of 
that  year.  The  reaction  was  not  so  wholesome  as  could  haveybeen 
desired,  but  improvement  soon  began  to  appear.  More  attention 
was  given  to  the  training  of  teachers,  and  an  interest  in  graded- 
school  systems  grew  stronger.  The  state  superintendent  conv- 
mented  on  the  value  of  assistance  from  the  Peabody  Fund  and  its 
promotion  of  education  in  the  larger  towns,  and  recommended  that 
future  appropriations  from  that  source  be  made  to  such  of  the 
smaller  towns  and  communities  "as  will  take  hold  of  the  matter 
in  earnest,  and  will  assist  the  State  in  building  up  such  schools." 
During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  operation  of  the  fund  Alabama  re- 
ceived about  $55,000  to  assist  schools  for  the  children  of  both  races. 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  389 

Sears  was  disappointed  with  the  conditions  in  Arkansas  on  his 
first  visit  to  that  State  in  1868.  "I  scarcely  need  to  remark,"  he 
said  in  his  report,  "that  Arkansas  is  in  a  state  of  complete 
anarchy  :  that  in  the  present  excited  state  of  feeling,  lawlessness 
and  violence  are  liable  to  break  out  at  any  moment,  rendering  life 
and  property  alike  insecure.  Had  I  been  suddenly  dropped  into 
the  midst  of  the  feudal  disorder  and  turbulence  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, I  should  hardly  have  been  more  struck  with  the  novelty  and 
strangeness  of  the  scene."  He  reported,  however,  that  some  of 
the  people  looked  upon  education  "  as  foremost  among  the  means 
indispensable  to  improvement."  Two  years  later  conditions  showed 
some  change.  Schools  were  found  in  almost  every  county,  and 
several  of  the  larger  towns  were  organizing  school  systems  which 
were  being  aided  and  stimulated  by  the  Peabody  Board. 

But  a  retrograde  movement  set  in  in  1872.  By  the  act  of  1868, 
which  made  the  treasurer's  certificates  receivable  for  taxes  and 
other  debts  due  the  State,  teachers  had  been  forced  to  accept  their 
salaries  in  depreciated  paper  which  ranged  in  discount  from  25 
to  50  per  cent.  The  warmest  friends  of  the  schools  soon  had  be- 
come greatly  discouraged,  and  many  of  the  teachers  had  left  the 
State  or  had  gone  into  other  work.  In  1871  the  Legislature  passed 
a  law  limiting  the  amount  of  local  optional  taxes  for  school  pur- 
poses to  one  half  of  i  per  cent  in  rural  communities  and  to  three 
fourths  of  i  per  cent  in  towns  and  cities.  Under  these  provisions 
not  more  than  one  in  ten  of  the  school  districts  throughout  the 
State  was  able  to  support  a  school  for  a  term  of  three  months 
during  the  year. 

Conditions  went  from  bad  to  worse  until  May,  1874,  when 
President  Grant  recognized  Elisha  Baxter  as  the  legal  governor  of 
the  State  and  ordered  Brooks  (Baxter's  rival)  and  his  followers  to 
disperse.1  A  constitutional  convention  assembled  in  August  of 
that  year,  and  the  constitution  which  it  made  was  adopted  by  the 


struggle  between  the  two  men,  who  represented  the  radical  and  the 
conservative  forces  of  the  State,  is  known  as  the  "Brooks-Baxter  War." 
Baxter  was  the  conservative  leader. 


3QO  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

people  the  following  October.  In  December,  1875,  a  new  and  im- 
proved school  law  was  enacted  under  which  the  conservatives 
began  their  educational  work.  Sears  regarded  this  as  very  favor- 
able legislation  and  saw  signs  of  renewed  interest  in  education. 
Communities  which  had  abandoned  their  public  schools  during  the 
reconstruction  period  now  began  to  reestablish  them  on  a  firmer 
basis,  and  the  entire  state  system  appeared  to  be  "administered 
with  great  energy  and  to  meet  with  popular  sympathy."  The 
number  of  schools  which  were  able  to  comply  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  Peabody  Board  and  which  applied  for  aid  from  that 
source  greatly  increased,  and  the  number  of  towns  which  were 
providing  liberally  for  their  schools  was  annually  increasing.  The 
Peabody  Board  also  greatly  assisted  in  stimulating  interest  in  local 
taxation  for  schools  and  in  arousing  towns  and  cities  to  the  impor- 
tance of  building  school  systems  for  all  their  children.  Batesville, 
Camden,  Fayetteville,  Helena,  Hot  Springs,  Little  Rock,  Spring- 
dale,  Van  Buren,  and  Washington  were  among  the  communities 
aided  by  the  fund  during  the  early  years  of  its  operation.  Assist- 
ance was  also  given  to  normal  schools,  teachers'  institutes,  and  the 
educational  journal  of  the  State.  Between  1868  and  1877  the 
appropriations  to  the  State  were  about  $60,000. 

No  schools  were  found  in  the  rural  sections  of  Florida  in  1868. 
In  the  larger  towns  many  families  were  contemplating  sending 
their  children  to  other  sections  of  the  country  or  moving  elsewhere 
for  better  educational  advantages.  Wherever  such  conditions  were 
found  the  general  agent  showed  the  people  how  money  spent  Vby  a 
few  families  in  such  a  way  would  support  a  good  school  for  the 
children  of  the  entire  town.  He  made  offers  to  Jacksonville,  Talla- 
hassee, St.  Augustine,  and  other  towns,  and  most  of  these  com- 
munities soon  met  the  requirements  of  the  appropriations. 

The  school  system  established  by  the  Legislature  was  feeble  and 
greatly  crippled  because  the  funds  for  its  support  were  inade- 
quate. The  state  tax  was  not  sufficient  to  maintain  schools  for 
two  or  three  months  a  year,  and  the  county  tax  was  variable  and 
uncertain.  In  many  towns  the  schools  were  maintained  by  means 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  391 

of  private  enterprise.  Many  of  the  Peabody  appropriations  were 
offered  on  the  condition  that  private  schools  be  converted  into 
public  free  schools,  and  by  1871  many  schools  of  private  character 
were  merged  into  public  schools  and  made  free  to  all  the  children 
of  the  community,  and  schools  for  both  the  white  and  the  colored 
children  were  in  this  way  provided.  But  the  Legislature  limited 
the  amount  of  county  school  taxes,  and  the  interest  on  the  school 
fund  was  not  being  paid  in  currency  but  in  paper  worth  only  thirty- 
three  cents  on  the  dollar.  Moreover,  there  were  irregularities  in 
many  counties  in  the  assessment  and  collection  of  the  school  taxes. 
The  school  population  numbered  about  sixty-seven  thousand,  but 
only  one  fourth  of  it  was  enrolled  in  schools,  and  these  continued 
for  only  a  short  term.  However,  aid  from  the  Peabody  Trustees 
did  much  "towards  eradicating  the  prejudice  formerly  existing  in 
the  minds  of  many  of  the  better  classes  against  the  system  of 
free  schools,  and  of  some  of  the  largest  tax  payers  against  the 
gratuitous  education  of  all  classes."  But  circumstances  unfavor- 
able to  education  continued  for  several  years.  The  imperfect  col- 
lection of  revenue,  the  inadequacy  of  legislative  appropriations, 
political  conflicts,  frequent  changes  in  school  officials,  the  incom- 
petency  of  teachers,  and  the  sparsity  of  population  were  among 
the  obstacles  which  the  schools  encountered.  Slight  improvement 
began  to  appear,  however,  by  1878. 

Florida  was  omitted  from  the  benefits  of  the  fund  between  1885 
and  1893.  A  part  of  the  endowment  consisted  of  certain  Florida 
bonds  which  the  State  had  refused  to  pay,  and  the  matter  of  settle- 
ment became  so  vexatious  that  in  1885  the  general  agent  was  in- 
structed to  exclude  it  as  a  beneficiary  of  the  fund.  Eight  years 
later,  however,  Florida  was  permitted  to  participate  again  in  the 
appropriations.  For  similar  reasons  the  same  action  was  taken  in 
the  case  of  Mississippi. 

Georgia  participated  very  largely  in  the  benefits  of  the  fund  in 
1868  as  a  result  of  visits  Sears  had  made  the  year  before  to  numer- 
ous towns  in  the  State.  Atlanta,  Macon,  Augusta,  Rome,  Savan- 
nah, and  Columbus  were  among  the  towns  which  met  the 


392  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

conditions  of  the  fund  and  received  assistance  promptly.  Sears 
also  attended  a  meeting  of  the  state  teachers'  association  in  Macon 
and  later  conferred  with  a  committee  appointed  by  that  body  to 
plan  a  school  system  for  the  State.  In  1870  a  uniform  system  of 
schools  was  introduced,  but  the  law  proved  to  be  defective,  and 
the  members  of  the  Legislature  were  reported  as  "  much  behind  the 
general  sentiment  of  the  people  on  education."  There  was  a  serious 
lack  of  funds  available  for  the  schools  because  large  amounts  had 
been  diverted  from  the  original  purpose.  These  reached  nearly 
half  a  million  dollars  by  the  fall  of  1871,  and  the  following  year 
the  superintendent  notified  the  counties  not  to  expect  any  aid  from 
the  State  for  school  purposes.  As  a  result  no  public  schools  were 
maintained  under  the  general  school  law  of  the  State  in  1872. 
A  year  later  it  was  stated  that  the  effort  to  establish  a  public- 
school  system  in  Georgia  "had  resulted  in  comparative  failure." 
Maladministration  rather  than  the  inherent  weaknesses  of  the 
plan  accounted  for  this  failure. 

In  the  towns  and  larger  communities  progress  was  being  made 
by  assistance  from  the  Peabody  Fund,  and  creditable  school  plans 
were  in  operation  in  many  of  them.  Conditions  were  not  alto- 
gether favorable  in  Atlanta,  however,  because  the  people  objected 
to  the  local  taxation  necessary  to  provide  schools  for  all  the 
people.  Private  schools  were  therefore  numerous,  and  sixty  such 
schools,  all  charging  high  tuition  rates,  were  reported  in  one  year. 
The  slowness  of  inaugurating  the  system  previously  planned  for 
the  city  was  due  to  the  fear  that  the  city  charter  did  not  allow  the 
local  tax.  But  legislative  authority  for  this  tax  was  later  obtained, 
and  a  system  of  schools  was  soon  put  into  operation  with  an  ex- 
perienced and  progressive  superintendent,  seven  large  elementary 
schools  (two  of  which  were  for  colored  children),  two  high  schools, 
and  fifty  teachers. 

In  this  and  other  towns  of  the  State  liberal  efforts  were  made  to 
educate  the  colored  children.  In  some  places  there  was  no  differ- 
ence between  the  salaries  of  the  white  teachers  and  those  of  the 
colored  teachers,  and  the  colored  schools  were  usually  reported  in 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  393 

good  condition.  They  operated  on  the  same  basis,  were  controlled 
by  the  same  rules,  and  were  taught  the  same  length  of  time  as  the 
white  schools.  Most  of  the  towns  also  provided  normal  training 
for  all  their  teachers,  being  aided  in  such  work  by  appropriations 
from  the  Peabody  Board. 

Most  of  the  larger  towns  thus  aided  were  soon  able  to  main- 
tain schools  without  much  state  assistance.  But  this  was  not  the 
general  condition  throughout  the  State.  As  late  as  1874  Sears  said : 

The  State  itself  is  somewhat  feeble  and  faltering  in  its  action. 
Whether  it  distrusts  the  principle  incorporated  in  its  laws,  of  educat- 
ing the  people  at  public  expense,  or  is  indifferent  to  the  educational 
condition  of  the  lower  classes,  the  effect  is  the  same,  a  deplorable  state 
of  popular  ignorance. 

Thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  population  over  ten  years  of  age  was 
said  to  be  unable  to  read  and  write.  At  the  same  time  the  agita- 
tion of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  in  Congress  had  the  effect  of  checking 
the  growth  of  a  favorable  public  opinion. 

By  1875  the  necessity  for  schools  was  being\more  widely  felt 
and,  although  the  State  was  not  making  the  progress  expected  of 
it,  extreme  caution  was  beginning  to  yield  to  better  counsels,  and 
there  was  improvement  in  sight.  A  year  later  a  decided  advance  in 
sentiment  for  public  schools  was  noticeable.  Many  who  were 
opposed  to  the  system  were  becoming  friendly ;  many  others  who 
entertained  grave  doubts  as  to  the  policy  of  the  system  settled 
down  into  the  conviction  that  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  to  give  it 
a  fair  trial ;  others  who  were  hostile  opposed  with  much  less  bitter- 
ness ;  while  the  original  friends  of  the  cause  were  becoming  every 
day  strengthened  in  their  favorable  opinion  and  more  earnest  in 
its  advocacy. 

Louisiana  probably  suffered  more  from  the  evils  of  reconstruc- 
tion than  any  other  Southern  State.  Turmoil  and  confusion  in 
political  matters  as  well  as  morbid  and  unnatural  educational  con- 
ditions were  some  of  the  difficulties  facing  the  schools.  Education 
also  suffered  from  the  unwise  constitutional  legislative  provisions 


I 

\    394  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  mixed  schools,  from  fraud  and  extravagance,  and  from  vicious 
legislative  whims.  The  constitution  of  1868  provided  that  no 
separate  school  or  institution  of  learning  should  be  established 
in  the  State,  and  the  same  instrument  prevented  any  municipal 
corporation  from  making  any  "  rules  or  regulations  contrary  to  the 
spirit  and  intention"  of  this  mandate.  The  first  school  law  was 
accordingly  in  strict  conformity  to  the  constitution,  but  the  inex- 
pediency and  folly  of  such  action  were  early  and  fully  demon- 
strated by  subsequent  events  in  the  State.  Like  the  other  Southern 
States  Louisiana  also  suffered  from  an  exploitation  and  fraudulent 
use  of  its  school  finances.  In  1878  a  legislative  investigation 
showed  that  funds  amounting  to  $2,137,000  were  misapplied  dur- 
ing reconstruction,  the  responsibility  of  which  attached  to  the 
various  Legislatures  and  to  the  state  officers,  including  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  and  other  local  school  officers.  The  same  in- 
vestigation gave  as  another  potent  reason  for  the  abnormal  school 
system  of  the  State  "  the  constant  clinic  treatment  to  which  it  has 
been  subjected  for  eight  years  in  the  Legislative  hospital." 

On  account  of  these  conditions  the  Peabody  Board  was  unable 
to  cooperate  with  the  state  authorities  until  after  the  undoing  of 
reconstruction.  There  was  great  excitement  on  the  subject  of 
mixed  schools  and  uncertainty  about  future  legislation.  The  white 
people  were  impoverished  and  disheartened  and  were  being  taxed 
for  schools  to  which  they  were  unwilling  to  send  their  children. 
For  these  reasons  it  was  unsatisfactory  to  make  arrangements  with 
the  state  authorities,  and  it  was  regarded  as  undesirable  to  assist  a 
class  of  schools  not  under  the  control  of  the  State.  The  Board, 
therefore,  began  its  work  in  Louisiana  by  giving  attention  to  the 
training  of  future  teachers.  Practically  all  appropriations  were 
made  to  support  normal  students  in  the  Plaquemine  Academy,  in 
the  New  Orleans  Normal  School,  and  in  other  similar  institutions. 
In  a  short  time,  however,  plans  were  made  to  aid  elementary 
schools  for  white  children  in  several  towns,  through  H.  M.  Lusher, 
a  former  state  superintendent  of  Louisiana,  who  gave  his  services 
gratuitously  to  the  Board.  He  usually  appointed  the  trustees  of 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  395 

the  schools  receiving  Peabody  appropriations  and  recommended  for 
aid  those  communities  which  supplemented  such  appropriations  by 
local  contributions.  All  such  appropriations  were  administered  for 
the  exclusive  benefit  of  white  children,  and  against  this  apparent 
inequality  of  distribution  Superintendent  Thomas  W.  Conway 
appealed  to  Mr.  Sears,  who  answered  as  follows : 

I  should  be  most  happy  to  cooperate  with  the  state  authorities.  But 
I  understand  that  the  state  public  schools  are  so  organized  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  white  population  are  unwilling  to  send  their  children 
to  them,  and  that  consequently,  the  benefit  of  the  public  money  goes 
in  fact  chiefly  to  the  colored  children.  If  there  is  any  feasible  way  of 
removing  this  inequality,  bringing  the  white  people  generally  into 
cooperation  with  you,  the  necessity  for  a  local  agency  would  cease,  and 
we  could  act  in  concert  with  you. 

We  ourselves  raise  no  question  about  mixed  schools.  We  simply 
take  the  fact  that  the  white  children  do  not  generally  attend  them 
without  passing  any  judgment  on  the  propriety  or  the  impropriety  of 
their  course.  We  wish  to  promote  universal  education — to  aid  whole 
communities,  if  possible.  If  that  cannot  be,  on  account  of  peculiar 
circumstances,  we  must  give  the  preference  to  those  whose  education 
is  neglected.  It  is  well  known  that  we  are  helping  the  white  children 
in  Louisiana  as  being  the  more  destitute,  from  the  fact  of  their  unwill- 
ingness to  attend  mixed  schools.  We  should  give  the  preference  to 
colored  children  were  they  in  like  circumstances. 

For  many  years  the  Board  continued  to  act  on  the  plan  pursued 
when  its  work  first  began  in  the  State  and  to  use  Mr.  Lusher's 
voluntary  services  as  local  agent.  As  late  as  1874  conditions  had 
not  changed  appreciably,  and  the  white  people  of  the  State  were 
not  taking  any  interest  in  the  schools  beyond  paying  their  taxes. 
In  New  Orleans  the  Catholic  schools  were  crowded  with  applicants 
from  Protestant  families,  and  private  schools  of  all  classes  were 
greatly  multiplied.  In  the  country  parishes  only  a  few  children 
were  attending  any  school. 

Dr.  Sears  feared  that  the  work  which  his  Board  had  done  and 
was  doing  in  the  State  was  accomplishing  but  little  good.  The 
schools  which  had  been  aided  were  educating  many  children,  but 


396  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

instead  of  becoming  stronger  and  giving  promise  of  permanency 
they  appeared  to  be  declining.  Finally,  however,  the  general  agent 
was  able  to  say  in  1877  : 

The  period  for  which  we  have  been  anxiously  waiting  has  at  length 
arrived.  A  new  system  of  public  instruction  more  conformable  to  the 
feelings  and  habits  of  the  people  is  already  introduced.  Our  local 
agent  has  been  re-elected  state  superintendent.  The  present  prospect 
is  that  all  classes  of  the  people  will  unite  in  the  work  of  education,  and 
that  there  will  be  a  pressing  call  on  the  Peabody  Fund  for  assistance. 

This  proved  to  be  a  correct  prediction,  for  during  the  next 
several  years  considerable  aid  was  given  the  schools  of  the  State. 
After  1877  the  annual  appropriations  were  considerably  larger 
than  before  that  time,  and  there  were  signs  of  growing  sentiment 
in  favor  of  schools. 

When  the  general  agent  visited  Mississippi  soon  after  the  work 
of  the  Peabody  Board  was  begun,  he  found  conditions  there  very 
similar  to  those  in  other  Southern  States,  though  the  towns  and 
cities  showed  more  than  ordinary  interest  in  the  work  of  the  fund, 
and  many  communities  were  early  aided  by  it.  In  some  of  these 
a  wholesome  educational  sentiment  was  evident,  in  others  the  peo- 
ple were  at  first  more  or  less  indifferent  on  the  subject  of  free 
public  schools,  and  in  others  still  they  were  "wedded  to  their 
private  schools."  Vicksburg  all  along  seems  to  have  maintained 
fairly  adequate  schools,  with  provisions  for  the  children  of  both 
races ;  Natchez  seems  to  have  had  a  competent  school  board,  ex- 
cellent teachers,  and  large  and  commodious  buildings  and  was  at- 
tracting wide  attention  in  the  State.  The  school  at  Summit,  which 
received  aid  during  Dr.  Sears's  first  visit,  continued  to  prosper  and 
exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  the  surrounding  country.  These 
are  some  instances  reported  by  the  general  agent  during  the  early 
years  of  his  work  in  the  State. 

As  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  public-school  system  was 
grafted  on  Mississippi  after  the  Civil  War,  under  new  and  un- 
paralleled circumstances,  by  those  who  were  not  regarded  by  a 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  397 

large  part  of  its  citizenship  as  fully  identified  with  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  State.  Confused  political  conditions  and  other  evils  of 
the  period  greatly  hindered  the  development  of  proper  educational 
sentiment  and  for  many  years  retarded  satisfactory  educational 
growth.  Much  of  the  school  money  was  paid  during  reconstruc- 
tion in  depreciated  state  and  county  warrants,  and  there  was  not 
ample  means  for  school  support.  But  the  woric  of  the  Peabody 
Board  was  very  effective,  and  by  1874  there  appeared  a  promising 
interest  in  the  question  of  public  free  schools  for  all  the  children 
of  the  State.  Private  schools  were  on  the  decrease,  the  number  of 
towns  supplementing  'the  Peabody  appropriations  was  increasing, 
and  the  friends  of  education  were  encouraged.  In  1875  it  was 
stated  that  the  "taxes  were  cheerfully  and  promptly  paid"  and 
that  attendance  had  increased  as  much  as  20  per  cent. 

In  1876  Dr.  Sears  referred  to  the  resignation  of  the  state  super- 
intendent— against  whom  severe  charges  had  been  preferred — 
and  stated  that  it  had  been  necessary  to  explain  anew  the  working 
of  the  Board  to  the  new  superintendent.  The  usual  reaction  also 
set  in.  The  Legislature  reduced  the  teachers'  salaries,  saying  that 
they  "  should  share  with  others  the  inconveniences  of  a  depleted 
treasury."  The  feeling  was  general  throughout  reconstruction, 
however,  that  the  school  system  needed  to  be  revised  and  elevated, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  return  to  home  rule  that  the  friends  of 
education  saw  some  hope  of  improvement.  In  1876  an  adminis- 
tration of  reform  began,  and  the  grounds  of  opposition  to  the 
schools  were  gradually  removed ;  and  two  years  later  it  was  said 
that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  the  State,  without  distinction 
of  race  or  party,  "are  found  the  fast  friends  and  supporters  of  the 
free-school  system." 

Mississippi  continued  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  the  fund  until 
1885,  when  it  was  omitted  from  its  distribution  until  1893.  This 
action  the  Board  felt  constrained  to  take  "not  as  a  punitory 
measure,  but  simply  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  the  children  of  other 
States,  not  to  allow  Mississippi  to  profit  by  her  own  wrong."  The 
State  had,  by  constitutional  amendment,  prohibited  the  redemption 


398  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

or  payment  of  certain  bonds,  amounting  to  about  $1,100,000, 
which  were  a  part  of  the  fund  held  by  the  Peabody  Trustees.  The 
State  had  paid  the  interest  on  these  bonds  until  1840;  after  that 
time  only  about  Si 00,000  was  paid,  and  this  was  forced  by 
mandamus  proceedings.  Various  acts  of  the  Legislature  and  the 
Supreme  Court  had  confirmed  the  validity  of  the  bonds.  And  when 
the  fund  was  created  Mr.  Peabody  believed  "  that  at  an  early  day 
such  legislation  will  be  had  as  to  make  these  bonds  available  in 
increasing  the  usefulness  of  the  present  trust."  He  also  believed 
that  "Mississippi,  though  now  depressed,  is  rich  in  agricultural 
resources,  and  cannot  long  disregard  the  moral  obligation  resting 
upon  her  to  make  provision  for  their  payment." 

In  1871  the  Trustees  memorialized  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
to  take  proper  action  for  redeeming  the  bonds,  but  they  got  no 
settlement.  Ten  years  later  they  renewed  the  memorial  without 
success.  Meantime  the  constitution  of  the  State  was  so  amended 
as  to  exclude  from  legislative  consideration  the  entire  matter  of 
settling  the  claims,  and  in  1882  Judge  Thomas  C.  Manning — a 
Louisiana  representative  of  the  Trustees — went  to  Jackson  and 
appealed  to  the  Legislature,  reminding  that  body  that  Mississippi 
had  received  nearly  $70,000  from  the  income  of  the  Peabody  Fund, 
while  that  endowment  had  received  no  income  from  the  Mississippi 
bonds  which  it  held.  But  the  appeal  was  without  effect,  and  after 
waiting  for  some  time  the  Trustees  in  1884  omitted  the  State  from 
the  distribution  of  the  benefaction  and  continued  to  exclude  it  as  a 
beneficiary  until  1893,  when  it  was  reinstated.  At  the  same  time 
similar  action  applied  to  Florida,  though  the  exclusion  of  these 
States  as  beneficiaries  never  had  unanimous  approval  of  the 
Peabody  Trustees. 

North  Carolina  was  one  of  the  first  States  to  participate  in  the 
distribution  of  the  income  from  this  endowment.  Acting  on  the 
advice  of  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  former  state  superintendent  of  schools, 
Dr.  Sears  visited  only  the  larger  towns  in  1868,  where  arrange- 
ments were  more  easily  made  for  complying  with  the  conditions 
of  the  fund.  Applications  for  aid  came  from  numerous  private 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  399 

academies,  but  these  could  not  be  considered.  During  that  year 
the  popular  mind  was  greatly  agitated  over  the  ratification  of  the 
constitution,  and  the  time  was  hardly  opportune  for  the  Board  to 
do  effective  educational  work.  By  April  of  the  following  year, 
however,  a  new  school  law  was  passed,  and  the  Board  was  able 
to  act  as  a  stimulant  in  inducing  towns  and  cities  to  establish 
schools.  The  new  school  system  struggled  through  its  first  year 
with  as  much  success  as  could  have  been  expected  in  times  of  bitter 
party  strife.  Moreover,  taxes  were  imperfectly  collected,  and  the 
schools  were  therefore  poorly  supported.  There  was  also  a  lack 
of  educational  interest,  of  competent  teachers,  and  of  competent 
officials. 

In  1871  many  discouraging  conditions  appeared  in  the  State, 
where  the  public  mind  was  not  so  well  settled  as  in  some  other 
Southern  States.  The  supreme  court  had  decided  that  the  school 
law,  so  far  as  it  provided  for  local  taxes,  was  unconstitutional  and 
could  not  be  enforced,  and  the  Legislature  had  levied  no  school 
taxes  for  that  year.  Moreover,  the  county  commissioners  were 
using  the  capitation  taxes  for  other  than  educational  purposes. 
The  principle  of  general  education  by  public  support  had  been 
agreed  upon  as  the  correct  principle,  but  its  application  was 
proving  a  more  difficult  task.  Educational  legislation,  though  ap- 
parently well  intended,  had  been  hurriedly  framed  by  lawmakers 
of  little  experience ;  local  tax  legislation  was  vague  and  uncertain 
and  litigation  was  often  resorted  to  by  those  who  opposed  it ;  and 
officials  had  but  little  interest  in  the  schools,  many  of  which  lan- 
guished for  want  of  proper  administration  and  supervision.  But 
Dr.  Sears  continued  his  work  with  discretion  and  caution. 

In  1873  conditions  were  still  confusing,  and  indifference  among 
the  common  people  and  a  lack  of  cooperation  among  public  men 
were  everywhere  noticeable.  "Nowhere,"  said  the  general  agent, 
"has  it  been  more  clearly  demonstrated  that  half-measures  in 
establishing  and  supporting  public  schools  cannot  be  attended  with 
great  success."  It  was  feared  that  in  many  if  not  in  most  of  the 
counties  no  schools  would  open  that  year,  and  systematic  and 


400  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

energetic  efforts  seemed  urgent  to  demand  of  the  Legislature  a 
working  system  of  schools.  The  popular  mind  was  also  confused 
by  the  agitation  in  Congress  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill.  Only  in  the 
cities  and  towns — and  largely  in  those  which  were  aided  by  the 
Peabody  Board — were  any  serious  efforts  being  made  to  main- 
tain schools  during  those  stormy  days.  The  school  law  was  very 
defective  in  that  it  failed  to  provide  for  the  training  of  teachers 
and  for  county  supervision  and  local  taxation.  In  1874  the 
superintendent  said: 

The  people  are  not  deficient  in  energy  or  public  spirit,  or  in  due 
appreciation  of  popular  education.  Our  great  want  is  statesmen  in  our 
legislative  halls — laws  that  will  permit  the  people  to  establish  and 
maintain  public  schools  for  the  education  of  their  children.  The  want 
of  active  county  superintendents  has  been  greatly  felt  in  administer- 
ing the  Peabody  education  fund. 

In  1876  the  state  superintendent,  who  had  been  acting  as  the 
local  agent  of  the  Peabody  Board,  was  charged  with  irregularities 
in  the  handling  of  appropriations  made  to  the  State,  and  a  suc- 
cessor was  tardily  named  in  his  place.  This  unfortunate  circum- 
stance greatly  damaged  the  cause  of  schools.  At  this  time  the 
state  tax  for  schools  was  slight,  a  local  tax  was  hardly  known,  and 
the  policy  of  appointing  politicians  to  head  the  school  system  had 
revealed  its  weakness  and  danger.  Offices  had  been  needlessly 
created  and  unwisely  distributed,  and  the  school  system  was 
burdened  with  supernumeraries,  responsibilities  were  divided,  and 
chances  of  active  official  cooperation  were  greatly  decreased.  The 
unwarranted  outside  interference  in  educational  matters,  which 
was  viewed  with  so  much  apprehension,  also  added  difficulties. 
But  the  work  of  Dr.  Sears  and  his  Board,  and  the  sight  of  success 
in  the  schools  aided  from  that  source,  helped  to  keep  alive  a  certain 
educational  spirit,  and  appropriations  continued  to  be  made. 

With  the  return  to  "home  rule"  in  North  Carolina,  in  1876,  and 
the  adoption  of  a  new  constitution,  conditions  began  to  show  some 
change.  The  liability  of  having  mixed  schools,  which  had  been  a 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  401 

matter  of  much  consideration  to  the  people  of  the  State,  was  now 
removed.  Dr.  Sears  seemed  much  encouraged  and  said:  "Public 
schools  are  now  fairly  put  upon  their  own  merits.  There  can 
henceforth  be  little  question  of  their  perpetuity,  for  the  tide  of 
public  opinion  has  been  recently  turned  and  set  so  strong  in  their 
favor  that  it  will  not  be  easy  to  resist  it." 

One  of  the  evidences  of  the  change  here  predicted  was  the 
establishment  of  two  normal  schools  (one  for  each  race)  for  the 
training  of  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  State.  A  great 
need  of  reconstruction  was  for  competent  teachers,  and  the  only 
safe  method  of  providing  them  was  through  state  establishment 
and  support  of  normal  schools.  The  Legislature  of  1877,  which 
established  these  schools,  appropriated  $2000  for  the  support  of 
each,  and  this  appropriation  was  continued  until  other  and  better 
arrangements  were  made  for  teacher-training.  The  same  Legisla- 
ture granted  authority  to  towns  of  a  certain  size  to  levy  an  extra 
property  and  capitation  tax  for  school  support. 

South  Carolina  received  from  the  Peabody  Board  during  the 
first  ten  years  of  its  operation  about  $28,000,  which  was  less  than 
the  appropriations  to  any  other  State  except  Texas  during  that 
time.  Local  conditions  were  in  large  measure  responsible  for  this 
small  share  in  the  bounty.  When  the  Confederacy  collapsed  there 
was  little  if  anything  which  resembled  civil  power  in  the  State. 
Local  officers  undertook  to  exercise  their  functions  in  an  effort  to 
maintain  order,  but  conditions  were  so  confusing  that  there  was  no 
power,  save  that  of  the  United  States  Army,  adequate  to  the  pro- 
tection of  life  and  property,  and  until  President  Johnson  named  a 
provisional  governor  military  authority  alone  existed  in  the  State. 
This  authority  was  of  general  scope,  having  jurisdiction  where 
police  regulations,  the  jury  system,  and  other  forms  of  govern- 
mental administration  had  hitherto  operated.  Instances  of  injus- 
tice were  numerous,  and  the  administration  of  military  authority 
was  harsh  and  its  power  frequently  used  in  a  most  arbitrary  fashion. 

These  discouraging  conditions  continued  until  1865,  when  the 
presidential  plan  of  restoring  the  Southern  States  was  begun  in 


402  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

South  Carolina.  When  the  so-called  military  or  congressional  plan 
of  reconstruction  began  in  1867  conditions  were  even  more  con- 
fusing than  before.  When  the  Peabody  Board  began  its  work 
there  the  same  year  "a  more  complete  state  of  prostration  as  to 
all  the  means  of  education"  had  rarely  been  witnessed. 

These  desolate  conditions  were  true  of  the  State  generally  ex- 
cept in  a  few  of  the  large  towns  where  ante-bellum  educational 
conditions  were  better  and  where  efforts  were  made  to  maintain 
schools  even  during  the  darkest  days  of  the  period.  In  Charleston, 
for  example,  which  was  one  of  the  first  towns  which  Dr.  Sears 
visited,  the  white  school  population  numbered  three  thousand,  and 
two  thirds  of  the  children  were  in  school.  The  buildings  were 
good,  the  schools  well  conducted,  and  there  was  an  available 
school  tax  in  the  town  of  nearly  $20,000.  Columbia,  which  was 
perhaps  more  desolated  and  broken  up  by  the  war  than  any  other 
Southern  city,  was  making  courageous  efforts  to  maintain  schools. 
The  white  children  of  Anderson  were  without  the  means  of  educa- 
tion at  that  time,  and  only  half  of  the  white  children  in  Greenville 
were  in  school.  But  in  nearly  every  town  which  the  general  agent 
visited  ample  means  were  found  for  educating  the  colored  children. 
Assistance  was  given  to  Anderson  and  Greenville  as  well  as  to  most 
of  the  other  towns  visited,  and  aid  was  continued  until  the  com- 
munities were  able  to  maintain  schools  without  outside  assistance. 
Appropriations  were  also  made  to  teachers'  institutes  and  other 
forms  of  normal  instruction  and  to  the  support  of  a  state  agent  of 
the  Board. 

Complaints  of  unfaithfulness  of  state  officials  in  the  use  of  the 
school  funds  and  of  the  incompetency  and  indifference  of  school 
officers  were  chronic  during  these  years.  The  condition  of  the 
finances  was  deplorable,  and  the  means  of  school  support  were  both 
inadequate  and  uncertain.  Teachers  were  frequently  "compelled  to 
toil  on  without  receiving  their  hard-earned  and  scanty  wages."  In 
February,  1871,  the  teachers  of  Charleston  had  been  without  com- 
pensation for  six  months,  and  the  city  treasury  was  still  empty.  In 
other  communities  similar  or  worse  conditions  prevailed.  Moreover, 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  403 

the  dominating  power  of  the  negro  also  added  confusion,  and  pub- 
lic confidence  was  weakened  by  the  diversion  of  school  funds 
and  by  the  failure  of  the  State  to  make  good  its  promises.  These 
and  other  conditions  greatly  impeded  the  progress  of  common- 
school  education  in  the  State,  produced  evils  which  were  not  fore- 
seen and  which  were  difficult  to  correct,  and  created  difficulties 
which  made  it  practically  impossible  for  the  Peabody  Board  to 
accomplish  as  much  as  in  some  other  States.  Applications  for 
assistance  from  the  Board  were  few  for  most  of  the  years  between 
1867  and  1876,  but  toward  the  close  of  that  period  Dr.  Sears  said 
of  the  State,  "We  are  eagerly  looking  for  such  action  on  her  part 
as  will  justify  us  in  giving  aid  to  a  large  number  of  schools ;  and 
measures  have  already  been  taken  for  this  purpose,  with  good 
prospects  of  success." 

When  the  Peabody  Board  first  began  its  work  in  Tennessee 
there  appeared  an  unsympathetic  attitude  toward  public  schools, 
funds  for  school  purposes  were  inadequate,  the  teachers  of  the 
State  were  poorly  prepared,  and  the  educational  situation  there  was 
described  as  "all-round  inefficient."  Political  disorders  had  much 
to  do  with  producing  these  conditions.  Dr.  Sears  went  to  Nash- 
ville in  the  autumn  of  1867,  on  invitation  of  the  state  superin- 
tendent, to  appear  before  the  Legislature  and  to  address  a  meeting 
of  the  State  Teachers'  Association  on  the  subject  of  organizing  a 
state  system  of  public  education.  His  visit  was  productive  of 
excellent  and  encouraging  results.  He  also  attended  a  meeting  of 
teachers  and  county  superintendents  of  East  Tennessee  at  Knox- 
ville,  where  he  found  the  most  prominent  and  influential  people 
deeply  interested  in  the  matter  of  educational  improvement. 

In  1870,  however,  a  slight  reaction  set  in,  and  the  work  of  the 
schools  was  temporarily  arrested  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  which 
substituted  an  inefficient  county  system  of  schools  for  the  old  one, 
and  "three  fourths  of  all  the  counties  treated  the  matter  of  schools 
with  utter  neglect."  The  county  courts  alone  had  authority  to 
levy  a  school  tax,  and  aversion  to  taxation  made  it  easy  for  them 
to  neglect  their  duty  in  this  respect.  However,  the  numerous 


404  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

places  which  continued  to  call  on  the  Peabody  Board  for  aid 
showed  how  disgusted  the  people  were  with  inefficient  legislation 
and  how  determined  some  of  them  were,  even  without  aid  from  the 
State,  to  maintain  a  system  of  free  schools  until  there  was  a  law 
requiring  them. 

In  1872  the  State  Teachers'  Association  petitioned  the  Peabody 
Board  for  the  expenses  and  salary  of  an  agent  to  canvass  the  State 
in  the  interest  of  public  schools.  This  association  was  composed 
of  "enlightened  and  enterprising  men,  among  whom  were  num- 
bered the  presidents  and  professors  of  the  various  literary  institu- 
tions of  the  State."  In  January  of  that  year  an  agent  of  the 
association  was  appointed  and  made  assistant  superintendent  of 
public  instruction.  At  this  time  the  state  system  of  schools  was 
described  as  "utterly  devoid  of  vitality."  The  work  of  this  agent 
was  so  successful,  however,  that  the  association  which  he  repre- 
sented appointed  a  legislative  committee  to  draft  a  better  school 
law,  and  this  was  passed  substantially  as  it  was  drafted.  Through 
the  State  Teachers'  Association,  the  Journal  of  Education,  and  the 
work  of  the  teachers'  institutes  improvement  in  educational  condi- 
tions began  to  appear  again  and  public  schools  began  to  multiply. 
Through  its  Tennessee  trustee,  Judge  Watson,  and  the  governor 
of  the  State  the  Peabody  Board  proposed  to  the  Legislature  to 
establish  a  state  normal  school,  and  by  joint  action  of  the  Trustees 
and  the  Legislature  the  literary  department  of  the  University  of 
Nashville  was  converted  into  such  an  institution.  Its  first  session 
began  in  December,  1875,  with  Eben  S.  Stearns  as  president. 
Temporary  funds  of  $12,000  a  year  were  provided,  one  half  of 
which  was  appropriated  by  the  Peabody  Board. 

There  was  considerable  evidence  of  reaction  in  the  State,  as  in 
all  the  Southern  States,  after  1876.  The  Legislature  of  that  year 
curtailed  expenses  as  much  as  possible  and  greatly  disappointed 
the  friends  of  public  education  by  failing  to  increase  the  school 
appropriations.  "Necessity  of  reform  in  the  State  expenditures" 
was  given  as  an  explanation  of  this  action.  The  Legislature  also 
abolished  the  office  of  county  superintendent,  and  only  the  veto  of 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  405 

the  governor  saved  the  office  of  state  superintendent.  The  friends 
of  education  were  sorely  perplexed,  and  its  enemies  invariably 
joined  that  party  which  insisted  on  the  strictest  economy  and 
sought  by  niggardly  appropriations  to  jeopardize  a  system  which 
they  dared  not  openly  assail.  On  this  matter  of  reducing  educa- 
tional expenditures  a  fierce  fight  ensued  not  only  in  Tennessee  but 
in  practically  all  the  Southern  States. 

The  Peabody  Board  continued  its  work  of  aiding  various  com- 
munities in  the  State  and  of  stimulating  interest  in  multiplying  and 
improving  public  schools.  Normal  instruction  was  also  greatly 
stimulated.  In  1878  nineteen  scholarships,  valued  at  $200  each, 
were  given  to  the  Normal  School  at  Nashville  to  be  awarded  to 
pupils  outside  Tennessee.  This  part  of  the  work  of  the  Peabody 
Fund  gradually  grew  and  proved  of  tremendous  influence  for  many 
years.  In  the  same  year  ten  white  and  fifteen  colored  teachers' 
institutes  were  aided  in  Tennessee.  For  the  ten  years  ending  1877 
nearly  $200,000  was  appropriated  to  the  State  by  the  Peabody 
Board. 

Texas  received  from  the  Peabody  Board  during  the  first  ten 
years  of  its  work  in  the  South  less  than  $19,000,  which  was  the 
smallest  sum  appropriated  to  any  State  during  that  time.  After- 
wards, however,  the  annual  appropriations  increased,  and  by  1897 
more  than  $141,000  had  been  distributed  in  the  State  from  that 
source.  Mr.  Peabody  was  anxious  for  work  to  begin  in  the  State 
early,  but  the  general  agent  did  not  visit  it  until  1869,  and  only 
$1000  seems  to  have  been  appropriated  there  before  1874.  The 
tide  of  immigration  was  greatly  swelling  from  the  Gulf  States,  from 
the  Northern  and  Western  States,  and  from  almost  every  part  of 
Europe.  Many  Germans  were  settling  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State,  around  San  Antonio  and  Austin,  and  there  was  a  rapid 
multiplication  and  growth  of  towns.  Everywhere  that  Dr.  Sears 
visited  he  found  progressive  and  intelligent  men  who  were  eager 
for  wise  educational  legislation.  During  his  first  visit  there  three 
different  committees  were  appointed,  "consisting  of  the  most  in- 
telligent men,  without  distinction  of  party,  to  confer  with  the 


406  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Legislature  on  the  subject  of  a  system  of  public  instruction."  The 
general  agent  was  also  invited  to  address  the  Legislature  the 
following  April. 

But  the  Board  was  unable  to  do  any  very  effective  work  until 
the  passage  of  a  school  law.  In  the  spring  of  1870  school  legis- 
lation was  enacted,  but  it  was  so  impracticable  that  it  was 
abandoned  the  following  year.  And  there  were  other  confusing 
conditions.  The  governor  had  nominated  a  state  superintendent 
of  schools,  but  the  Senate  refused  to  confirm  the  nomination,  and 
the  entire  school  system  was  thus  rendered  inoperative.  No  county 
seems  to  have  undertaken  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the 
law  of  1870. 

The  following  year  a  new  school  law  was  passed  and  provision 
was  made  for  setting  in  operation  a  public-school  system.  All  the 
machinery  of  the  system  was  provided  for,  and  the  school  fund, 
though  badly  plundered,  was  still  larger  than  that  of  any  other 
Southern  State,  amounting  to  more  than  $2,285,000.  But  the 
schools  were  begun  in  the  face  of  great  opposition  and  during  a 
period  of  fierce  party  strife.  The  originators  of  the  law  had  little 
confidence  in  the  people,  and  the  people  in  turn  were  distrustful 
of  the  originators  of  the  law  and  the  school  system.  "One  party 
wielded  the  law  to  overcome  public  sentiment;  and  the  other 
wielded  public  sentiment  to  overcome  the  law."  Complaints  were 
made  by  both  sides.  The  friends  of  the  law  and  of  the  school 
system  asserted  that  there  was  opposition,  and  the  other  side, 
held  that  recklessness  and  extravagance  had  been  practiced  in 
public  expenditures.  Finally,  the  opposition  prevailed,  and  addi- 
tional school  legislation  was  enacted. 

A  difference  of  opinion  on  public  education  continued.  Some 
people  believed  that  the  public  schools  were  abolished,  while  others 
contended  that  only  the  power  to  waste  public  funds  was  abolished. 
Whatever  the  fact,  the  schools  suffered,  and  in  1873  Dr.  Sears  re- 
ported: "In  the  present  unsettled  state  of  school  matters  in 
Texas  we  should  not  be  justified  in  making  donations  from  our 
fund.  We  therefore  feel  obliged  to  wait  till  we  can  do  it  more  in 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  407 

accordance  with  our  rules  and  usages."  He  here  referred  to  re- 
quests from  the  state  superintendent  "to  do  something  which  our 
rules  do  not  allow ;  such  as  purchasing  apparatus,  paying  teachers 
over  and  above  their  stipulated  wages,  and  making  up  deficiencies 
in  the  school  fund  arising  from  neglect  to  collect  the  taxes  legally 
assessed." 

In  1874  conditions  were  more  or  less  unchanged  in  the  State, 
and  the  general  agent  said,  "Time  only  will  show  whether  vigor- 
ous measures  will  be  taken  to  supply  the  great  educational  wants 
of  the  State."  A  year  later  a  new  constitution  was  framed  for  the 
State,  and  while  it  was  defective,  lacking  a  provision  for  a  state 
superintendent,  Dr.  Sears  reported  "indications  of  a  new  move- 
ment." But  he  had  not  properly  read  the  signs  of  the  times,  for 
in  1876  conditions  were  still  confusing.  Soon,  however,  an  en- 
couraging change  appeared.  Through  a  local  agent  of  the  Board 
many  sections  of  the  State  had  been  visited,  and  there  was  a 
noticeable  change  in  sentiment  for  public  education.  The  press 
and  the  politicians  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  public  schools, 
and  denominational  hostility  to  them,  which  had  been  a  serious 
educational  impediment,  was  decreasing.  A  new  era  began  to 
dawn  for  the  State,  and  the  schools  seemed  to  be  prospering.  In 
1878  a  state  official  said,  "The  system  has  taken  such  deep  root 
in  the  popular  mind  that  no  fears  need  now  be  entertained  for 
the  future."  After  that  time  the  annual  appropriations  were  more 
numerous,  and  schools  in  many  towns  and  communities  were  sub- 
stantially assisted.  The  effect  thus  produced  upon  public  senti- 
ment was  very  marked  and  encouraging  to  the  friends  of  public 
education. 

Virginia  shared  more  bountifully  in  the  distribution  of  the  fund 
than  any  other  Southern  State.  Nearly  $18,000  came  to  the 
State  in  1868  and  1869,  before  the  school  system  created  by  the 
new  constitution  and  the  new  school  law  had  begun  operation,  and 
there  were  few  years  when  its  appropriations  from  that  source  were 
not  larger  than  those  made  to  any  other  State.  This  early  and  large 
participation  in  the  distribution  of  the  fund  was  not  unlikely  due 


H 


408  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

to  the  direct  influence  of  the  general  agent,  who,  soon  after  his 
appointment,  took  up  his  residence  at  Staunton  and  thus  came 
directly  in  touch  with  the  educational  interests  of  the  State.  More- 
over, almost  immediately  on  his  arrival  he  was  invited  to  address 
the  constitutional  convention  in  session  in  Richmond.  The  address 
set  forth  in  a  very  convincing  manner  the  principle  of  universal 
free  schools.  The  convention  ordered  ten  thousand  copies  of  the 
address  printed,  and  these  were  distributed  broadcast  throughout 
the  State.  In  this  way  the  purpose  of  the  fund  and  the  work  of  the 
general  agent  early  came  to  be  understood  and  appreciated  in 
the  State.  Before  the  principal  of  the  fund  was  finally  distributed, 
in  1910,  Virginia  had  received  about  $400,000  from  the  bounty. 

It  was  not  the  appropriations,  however,  which  had  the  most 
beneficial  influence  in  Virginia,  nor  was  this  the  final  result  in 
any  State  aided  by  the  Peabody  Fund ;  but  as  an  incentive  to  local 
effort  and  community  enterprise  and,  finally,  as  a  stimulant  to  the 
development  of  local  taxation  for  school  support,  the  fund  rendered 
its  greatest  and  most  lasting  service.  Moreover,  it  helped  to  create 
and  sustain  a  healthy  public  opinion  which  expressed  itself  in 
legislative  action.  And  Virginia,  like  all  the  Southern  States, 
needed  this  stimulation.  Like  all  the  members  of  the  late  Con- 
federacy, it  was  in  a  condition  of  almost  hopeless  impoverishment 
and  destitution.  Business  had  been  demoralized  in  a  manner  un- 
precedented in  history ;  banks  and  corporations  had  been  closed  or 
temporarily  suspended ;  securities  were  valueless,  and  everywhere 
a  condition  of  stagnation  prevailed.  In  such  conditions  education 
was  hardly  expected  to  claim  paramount  attention ;  other  interests 
apparently  as  immediate  and  vital  had  first  to  be  cared  for.  But 
through  the  work  of  the  fund  and  the  personal  efforts  of  Dr.  Sears 
attention  gradually  turned  to  the  means  of  putting  life  and  hope 
in  the  State  through  the  development  of  a  public-school  system. 

Dr.  Sears  found  that  most  of  the  public  leaders  of  the  State 
believed  that  it  would  be  wiser  and  more  effective  to  employ  the 
fund  in  preparing  primary  teachers  than  to  use  it  in  giving  pri- 
mary instruction  to  the  children  of  the  State.  The  general  agent 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  409 

himself  believed  that  the  education  given  in  the  colleges  and  other 
higher  institutions  of  learning  was  sufficient  to  supply  the  more 
prosperous  part  of  the  population  liberally  with  the  means  of 
schools,  but  provision  for  primary  education  appeared  to  him  to 
be  "very  defective,  and,  in  many  places,  can  not  be  said  to  exist 
at  all."  The  lack  of  competent  primary  teachers  called  for  serious 
attention,  and  provision  was  immediately  made  for  training  twenty 
teachers  in  the  Richmond  Normal  School,  for  ten  or  more  teachers 
in  Hollins  Institute,  and  for  ten  teachers  in  Emory  and  Henry 
College. 

In  those  towns  where  efforts  were  made  to  make  appropriations 
for  primary  schools  political  questions  were  engrossing  the  public 
mind,  and  "the  present  was  considered  an  inauspicious  time  for 
action."  There  was,  however,  no  spirit  of  antagonism  to  the  plans 
of  the  Peabody  Board,  "but  a  state  of  anxiety  in  regard  to  the 
future  from  which  it  was  not  easy,  even  temporarily,  to  divert  the 
public  mind."  The  spirit  of  uncertainty  and  of  unrest  seemed  so 
disastrous  to  the  cause  of  public  education  that  the  general  agent 
was  forced  to  move  cautiously  in  his  efforts  to  distribute  funds  to 
certain  communities.  Opposition  to  the  new  constitutions  and  a 
rather  widespread  fear  that  mixed  schools  would  be  forced  on  the 
people  caused  many  writers  and  speakers  to  place  themselves  in  a 
more  or  less  doubtful  attitude  on  the  subject  of  public  education. 

The  new  school  law  was  ratified  in  July,  1870,  and  efforts  were 
made  to  set  the  school  system  in  operation.  The  law  took  from 
towns  and  cities  the  power  and  authority  to  establish  and  control 
their  own  schools,  however,  and  the  state  school  funds  were  in- 
sufficient to  maintain  schools  generally.  But  Dr.  Sears  and  his 
Board  continued  to  aid  towns  and  villages  and  other  educational 
enterprises,  and  in  1871  reported  that  thirty-nine  white  and  thirty- 
three  colored  schools  had  received  appropriations.  The  following 
year  sentiment  in  favor  of  public  education  was  growing,  especially 
in  the  towns  and  cities,  and  there  was  an  astonishingly  sudden 
multiplication  of  schools  in  the  State.  Numerous  communities 
continued  to  receive  aid. 


410  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

But  for  the  perplexing  question  of  mixed  schools  and  the  agita- 
tion in  Congress  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill,  educational  conditions 
would  have  continued  to  show  improvement.  But  the  public  mind 
was  greatly  agitated  on  the  subject,  and  in  many  cases  plans  to 
build  schoolhouses  were  abandoned  and  efforts  at  other  improve- 
ments were  suspended.  In  1875  public  education  showed  some 
improvement,  though  conditions  were  still  very  unwholesome. 
Liberal  appropriations  continued  to  be  made  to  the  State,  however, 
and  the  larger  towns  were  rapidly  developing  creditable  public- 
school  systems.  By  1877  tne  conservatives  were  rapidly  regaining 
control  of  the  state  government,  and  renewed  attention  began  to 
be  paid  to  education  for  the  children  of  all  the  people.  The  gen- 
eral agent  was  himself  very  much  pleased  with  the  prospect,  and 
said  in  his  report  for  that  year,  "  It  has  become  quite  evident  that 
Virginia  has  not  only  settled  her  policy  in  regard  to  education, 
but  entered  upon  a  career  of  progress,  which,  in  the  next  genera- 
tion, will  show  its  beneficent  results  in  no  ambiguous  way." 

Certain  definite  results  of  the  fund  appeared  in  practically  all 
the  Southern  States.   It  stimulated  local  enterprise  and  community 
/  cooperation  and  promoted  the  establishment  of  city  and  town 
/  school  systems ;  it  encouraged  the  final  establishment  of  complete 
L  state  school  systems ;  it  helped  to  remove  hostility  to  the  educa- 
tion of  the  negro ;  it  encouraged  the  professional  training  of  teach- 
ers ;  and  it  tended  to  remove  the  bitter  spirit  of  sectionalism. 
V     The  Peabody  Board  distributed  in  the  South  during  the  first 
decade  of  its  work  nearly  a  million  dollars.   This  means  nothing 
less  than  that  the  Southern  States  raised  during  that  time  for  edu- 
cational purposes  by  taxation  or  otherwise  between  two  and  three 
million  dollars  which  otherwise  would  not  have  been  available. 
Through  this  means  sentiment  for  local  taxation  began,  and  the 
spirit  of  local  effort  which  was  thus  stimulated  gradually  developed 
and  rapidly  spread  throughout  the  South.   After  the  undoing  of 
reconstruction  special  legislative  enactments  generally  gave  towns 
and  cities  authority  to  place  their  schools  on  a  more  substantial 
financial   basis,  which  enabled  them  to  extend  terms,  enlarge 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  411 

courses  of  study,  and  increase  equipment  and  teaching  forces. 
From  this  movement  the  town  and  city  school  systems  of  the 
South  grew. 

The  final  establishment  of  complete  state  systems  of  public 
schools  was  also  aided  by  the  policy  of  the  Trustees  and  the  per- 
sonal efforts  of  the  agents  of  the  fund.  Through  public  addresses, 
conferences  with  legislative  committees,  and  consultations  with 
public  leaders  Dr.  Sears  helped  to  make  education  appear  as  a 
function  of  government — a  theory  which  was  to  become  generally 
secure  in  the  public  mind.  A  property  tax  for  purposes  of  educa- 
tion came  finally  to  be  regarded  as  legitimate  and  essential; 
opposition  to  this  means  of  school  support  had  been  more  tradi- 
tional than  rational.  And  the  general  movement  for  training 
teachers  under  state  support  and  control  and  as  a  part  of  complete 
state  school  systems  is  easily  traceable  in  its  development  and 
growth  to  the  influence  and  aid  of  this  benefaction. 

Hostility  to  or  prejudice  against  the  idea  of  furnishing  educa- 
tional facilities  to  the  freedmen  was  also  somewhat  diminished  by 
the  influence  of  the  fund.  To  offer  the  children  of  the  emancipated 
slaves  educational  advantages  equal  to  those  afforded  the  children 
of  their  late  masters,  in  opposition  to  all  tradition  and  custom,  re- 
quired a  courage  and  a  liberality  that  few  men  were  thought  to 
possess.  And  while  some  people  slowly  and  with  difficulty  made 
the  necessary  adjustment,  the  general  disposition  on  the  part  of 
representative  Southern  leaders  to  discriminate  against  the  colored 
people  was  rarely  seen.  Cases  of  discrimination  were  the  excep- 
tion rather  than  the  rule,  for  most  of  the  leaders  felt  kindly  toward 
the  colored  people  until  foolish  ideas  of  unworthy  teachers  and  of 
visionary  and  impassioned  zealots  created  mischief  and  alarm 
among  those  who  labored  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  Southern  life. 
In  spite  of  the  confusion  of  the  times  and  the  vicious  conditions 
and  influences  which  made  more  difficult  and  delicate  the  problem 
of  sympathetic  racial  cooperation,  the  Southern  States  paid  nearly 
$110,000,000  between  1870  and  1900  to  help  educate  the  negro. 
The  apparent  disparity  in  the  number  of  schools  for  white  and  for 


412  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

colored  children  during  those  years  was  due  to  the  extreme  diffi- 
culty and  often  impossibility  of  securing  qualified  teachers  for  the 
negro  schools. 

The  promotion  of  normal  school  work  for  the  training  of  teach- 
ers in  the  South  was  another  important  result  of  the  fund.  Ade- 
quate provision  for  the  systematic  training  of  teachers  was  early 
urged  upon  the  States  which  the  fund  was  aiding,  because  the  lack 
of  competent  teachers  was  one  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  be  sur- 
mounted in  establishing  public-school  systems.  In  1868  there  was 
not  a  normal  school  in  the  entire  South.  Numerous  "depart- 
ments" were  rapidly  originated  after  the  fund  began  to  operate, 
but  they  were  usually  in  denominational  or  private  institutions, 
and  rivalries  and  jealousies  compelled  the  Peabody  Board  to  con- 
fine its  aid  to  such  schools  as  were  under  state  control.  Soon,  how- 
ever, it  began  to  devote  a  large  portion  of  the  annual  income  to 
stimulate  the  establishment  and  to  aid  the  support  of  normal 
schools,  and  hi  this  work  the  training  of  teachers  was  given  con- 
siderable impetus.  This  course  was  pursued  for  several  years. 

The  year  following  the  establishment  of  the  Nashville  Normal 
College  in  1875  tne  Peabody  Board  established  a  limited  number 
of  scholarships  in  that  institution  for  students  of  ability  in  the 
beneficiary  States.  These  scholarships  were  worth  $200  a  year  for 
two  successive  years.  At  first  they  were  accepted  with  a  degree  of 
reluctance,  but  afterwards  they  were  eagerly  sought  after,  and  by 
1897  more  than  $364,000  was  distributed  to  the  Southern  States  in 
this  way.  The  school  was  established  for  the  one  purpose  of  train- 
ing teachers  for  all  the  States,  and  its  influence  was  far-reaching 
on  education  in  that  region. 

In  1902  a  movement  was  prompted  by  the  alumni  of  the  Nash- 
ville Normal  College  and  the  citizens  of  Nashville  to  establish  in 
that  city  an  institution  for  the  higher  professional  education  of 
teachers  in  the  entire  South.  The  movement  was  indorsed  by  the 
Peabody  Board,  which  gave  a  large  part  of  the  fund  for  the 
establishment  and  endowment  of  the  George  Peabody  College  for 
Teachers.  The  institution  was  incorporated  in  1909,  and  two 


THE  PEABODY  FUND  413 

years  later  Dr.  Bruce  R.  Payne  was  elected  its  president.  The  col- 
lege opened  in  1913  and  is  rendering  a  valuable  service  in  the  train- 
ing of  teachers  in  the  Southern  States.  A  part  of  the  principal  of 
the  Peabody  Fund  was  used  also  to  encourage  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  schools  of  education  in  state  universities  in 
the  South. 

While  the  trust  was  established  primarily  to  help  meet  the  edu- 
cational needs  of  the  South,  Mr.  Peabody  clearly  had  in  mind 
the  promotion  of  the  common  good.  "This  I  give  to  the  suffering 
South  for  the  good  of  the  whole  country  "  was  the  sentiment  which 
he  expressed  when  he  made  his  second  great  donation  in  1869. 
This  benefaction  of  a  Northern  man,  the  caution  and  tact  of  his 
Trustees,  and  the  activity  of  their  efficient  and  able  agents  helped 
to  remove  much  of  the  bitter  sectionalism  which  was  known  gen- 
erally to  exist  and  to  establish  and  maintain  a  bond  of  fellowship 
between  the  two  sections  so  lately  at  war.  Mr.  Winthrop,  for  so 
long  chairman  of  the  board  of  Trustees,  pronounced  the  gift  "the 
earliest  manifestation  of  a  spirit  of  reconciliation  toward  those  from 
whom  we  have  been  so  unhappily  alienated  and  against  whom 
we  of  the  North  had  been  so  recently  arrayed  in  arms." 

Since  1900  rather  rapid  advances  have  been  made  in  extending 
educational  facilities  in  the  cities  and  towns.  This  extension  has 
applied  in  considerable  measure  to  the  secondary  or  high  school  as 
well  as  to  the  elementary  school.  In  general,  however,  the  move- 
ment to  extend  high-school  advantages  to  the  children  of  the  rural 
sections  did  not  gain  strength  until  more  recent  years,  and  even 
now  much  needs  to  be  done  before  the  equality  of  educational 
opportunity  can  be  guaranteed  to  all  the  children  of  the  South. 
The  rise  and  growth  of  the  public  high  school  as  a  part  of  the 
state  systems,  and  its  present-day  problems  and  needs,  will  be 
considered  in  a  later  chapter. 


4U  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  What  was  the  particular  value  of  the  Peabody  Fund?   What 
were  its  principal  purposes  ? 

2.  Study  the  principles  on  which  the  fund  was  distributed  and  point 
out  the  value  of  each. 

3.  In  what  way  or  ways  did  appropriations  from  the  fund  aid  edu- 
cation in  your  State?   in  your  community? 

4.  Compare  the  principles  on  which  the  fund  was  distributed  with 
the  principles  on  which  the  income  from  the  permanent  public-school 
fund  in  your  State  was  used  before  the  Civil  War. 

5.  Was  it  just  to  exclude  Florida  and  Mississippi  from  the  benefits 
of  the  fund  between  1885  and  1893?    Why?   Why  was  this  action  of 
the  Trustees  not  unanimous  ? 

6.  What  final  disposition  was  made  of  the  principal  of  the  fund  ? 

7.  Trace  the  development  of  town  and  city  school  systems  in  your 
State.   Why  has  urban  education  advanced  more  rapidly  than  rural 
education  ? 

8.  How  did  the  Peabody  Fund  stimulate  local  taxation  in  your 
State?    In  what  way  did  it  promote  the  training  of  teachers  in  your 
State  ?   In  what  way  or  ways  did  it  assist  in  advancing  the  education  of 
the  negro  ?    How  did  the  endowment  aid  in  the  establishment  of  public 
high  schools  ? 

9.  Contrast  the  educational  advantages  offered  hi  the  cities  of  your 
State  with  those  offered  in  the  rural  sections.   Explain  the  inequalities 
that  appear. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

ALDERMAN  and  GORDON,  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  A  Biography.  New  York,  1911. 
AYRES,  Seven  Great  Foundations.  New  York,  1911.  CURRY,  A  Brief  Sketch 
of  George  Peabody  and  a  History  of  the  Peabody  Education  Fund  through 
Thirty  Years.  Cambridge,  1898.  KNIGHT,  "The  Peabody  Fund  and  Its 
Early  Operation  in  North  Carolina,"  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly,  April, 
1915.  Proceedings  of  the  Peabody  Board  Trustees.  Cambridge;  annual  after 
1867.  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1882- 
1883,  1883-1884,  1887-1888,  1888-1889  (Vol.  I)  ;  1893-1894  (Vol.  I)  ; 
1903  (Vol.  I).  Reports  of  the  superintendent  of  public  instruction  of  the 
various  States. 


CHAPTER  XII 

READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING 

Outline  of  the  chapter.  t  i.  In  spite  of  heroic  efforts  public  educa- 
tion made  only  slight  progress  in  the  South  between  1876  and  1900. 

2.  Poor  economic  conditions  were  the  most  immediate  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  a  more  wholesome  growth  of  schools. 

3.  Sparsity  of  population,  isolation,  the  depressed  condition  of  the 
people,  the  curse  of  politics,  and  the  issue  of  mixed  schools  were  other 
obstacles  which  retarded  education. 

4.  As  a  result  of  these  causes  the  public  schools  continued  poor  and 
defective  throughout  the  quarter  century. 

5.  Occasional  signs  of  educational  interest  appeared  here  and  there, 
however,  during  those  years,  but  new  foundations  were  necessary  before 
substantial  reform  could  be  secured. 

6.  These  foundations  were  finally  made  through  increase  in  economic 
wealth,  the  rise  of  a  strong  middle  class,  the  awakening  of  a  class  con- 
sciousness among  the  rural  population,  a  new  race  of  leaders,  political 
changes,   and  legal   requirements   of   literacy  as  a  qualification   for 
suffrage. 

7.  With  the  way  thus  prepared,  the  Conference  for  Education  in  the 
South,  the   Southern  Education  Board,  and  the   General  Education 
Board  assisted  in  promoting  active  campaigns  for  better  schools. 

8.  The  spirit  of  reform  was  awakened,   and  remarkable  progress 
was  made  in  public  education  during  the  first  decade  of  the  present 
century. 

Between  1876  and  1900  public  education  failed  to  develop  and 
advance  in  the  South  as  its  champions  had  predicted.  Heroic 
efforts  at  readjustment  were  made  during  those  years,  but  the 
schools  did  not  respond  to  the  needs  of  the  period,  and  educational 
improvement  was  very  slow  except  in  those  towns  and  cities  which 
had  received  assistance  from  the  Peabody  Fund,  the  work  of 


41 6  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

which  was  described  in  the  preceding  chapter.  And  even  in  those 
communities  the  growth  of  public  education  was  not  particularly 
marked,  though  the  proof  of  their  interest  in  schools  was  the 
gradual  increase  in  their  willingness  to  vote  local  taxes  for  public 
educational  support.  Outside  the  larger  towns  and  cities,  however, 
the  condition  of  public  schools  was  generally  deplorable. 

Reports  of  conditions  at  and  immediately  following  the  close  of 
reconstruction  had  proved  to  be  too  optimistic,  and  the  educa- 
tional awakening  which  seemed  to  be  at  hand  at  that  time  was 
not  achieved.  The  more  creditable  features  of  educational  reor- 
ganization which  seemed  to  appear  during  reconstruction  were  of 
unfortunate  origin,  and  earnest  efforts  at  reform  and  improvement 
soon  became  reactionary  and  in  some  parts  of  the  South  even 
served  to  pronounce  the  evil  effects  of  radical  rule  between  1868 
and  1876.  For  nearly  twenty-five  years  following  the  undoing  of 
reconstruction  the  iniquities  of  that  period  were  felt  in  public 
education  in  all  parts  of  the  South,  largely  because  the  school  sys- 
tems which  had  been  set  up  there  bore,  perhaps  as  no  other  part 
of  the  social  system,  the  odium  of  bad  control  and  partisan  ex- 
ploitation. Many  evils  thus  produced  continued  to  be  felt  until 
recent  years  and  to  retard  the  growth  of  public  schools.  In  many 
parts  of  the  South  public  educational  facilities  as  late  as  1900 
suffered  by  comparison  with  those  of  1860  or  1875. 

Of  the  several  causes  which  conspired  to  produce  the  unwhole- 
some condition  of  public  education  the  most  immediate  was 
economic.  The  greatest  need  of  the  period  was  more  money  for 
schools,  and  this  need  continued  to  be  more  or  less  acute  until  the 
recent  past.  Prior  to  1900  the  economic  wealth  of  the  South  was 
not  large.  Very  little  accumulated  property  had  been  left  by  the 
war  and  that  little  had  been  wasted  during  reconstruction,  and 
during  the  larger  part  of  the  quarter  century  which  followed 
material  development  was  not  rapid.  Public  finances  were  in  a 
perilous  condition,  the  state  treasuries  were  depleted,  and  credit 
abroad  had  not  been  thoroughly  established.  Agriculture  was  the 
principal  occupation,  and  each  crop  was  generally  made  by  a 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING    417 

mortgage  on  itself.  Everywhere  there  was  widespread  economic 
depression.  The  valuation  of  property  was  low,  and  standards  of 
value  varied  widely  in  the  various  States  and  often  in  the  counties 
of  the  same  State.  In  some  States  the  value  of  realty  decreased 
during  the  first  and  second  decades  following  the  close  of  recon- 
struction, and  personal  property  increased  but  slightly.  The  South 
was  burdened  with  enormous  debts  which  called  for  heavy  interest 
payments.  Moreover,  unsound  taxing  systems  inherited  from 
reconstruction  hampered  state  support  of  schools,  and  possible 
sources  of  local  school  support  were  often  so  hindered  or  entirely 
cut  off  by  constitutional  restrictions  as  to  be  ineffective.  The  re- 
organized permanent  public-school  funds  of  ante-bellum  days  were 
practically  fruitless  and  remained  so  during  the  larger  part  of  the 
quarter  century. 

Policies  of  rigid  public  economy  were  thus  forced  upon  the 
South  by  necessity,  and  in  such  policies  protection  from  relapses 
into  the  political  and  financial  abuses  of  the  past  was  sought  as  a 
check  against  plunder  and  incompetency  in  official  position.  The 
financial  support  of  schools  was  very  small,  but  generally  as  large 
as  conditions  permitted.  But  the  school  population  and  corre- 
sponding demands  for  enlarged  school  facilities  were  increasing ; 
and  lack  of  adequate  school  funds  gave  cheapness  of  instruction 
and  economy  in  the  maintenance  and  supervision  of  schools  the 
color  of  creditable  features  of  public  education.  The  people  of 
the  South  during  these  years  were  very  poor, — too  poor  to  afford 
the  resulting  waste  of  ignorance.  They  knew  that  their  schools 
were  poor,  because  they  themselves  were  poor,  but  they  had  not 
yet  learned  that  they  were  poor  largely  as  a  result  of  poor  schools, 
or  that  their  poverty  was  itself  a  convincing  argument  for  better 
schools. 

The  sparsity  of  population  and  the  isolation,  the  poor  roads  and 
the  lack  of  other  means  of  communication,  were  other  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  a  wholesome  growth  of  public  schools.  Real  rural 
progress  depended  then  as  now  upon  economic  wealth  and  public 
willingness  to  use  it  for  the  advancement  of  public  well-being.  The 


4i 8  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

day  of  the  building  and  maintenance  of  good  roads  had  not  yet 
come,  modern  and  progressive  methods  of  farming  were  not  yet 
in  use  in  the  South,  and  rural  life  there  was  far  from  inviting  and 
satisfying.  Healthy  spirit  and  interests  in  the  school  and  com- 
munity were  impossible,  therefore,  because  those  activities  which 
come  with  frequent  social  intercourse  to  quicken  pride  and  public 
interest  in  community  enterprises  were  not  yet  developed  in  the 
South.  Because  of  the  isolation  and  the  unpromising  social  con- 
ditions thousands  of  people  deserted  the  rural  sections  for  better 
educational  and  social  opportunity  in  the  towns  and  cities. 

Another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  a  wholesome  growth  of  public 
schools  was  the  depressed  and  discouraged  condition  of  the  people 
themselves.  It  was  noted  in  Chapter  X  that  public  confidence  had 
been  weakened  by  the  unfitness  of  local  school  officers  and  the 
unfaithfulness  of  state  officials  and  by  the  failure  of  the  authorities 
to  keep  the  promises  made  for  schools.  It  was  many  years  before 
confidence  could  be  restored,  and  out  of  this  distrust  grew  indif- 
ference and  often  outright  hostility  which  prevailed  for  many 
years.  The  South  also  inherited  defective  educational  legislation 
and  unsound  and  unsuitable  school  organization  from  which  it  was 
difficult  to  escape.  Moreover,  the  eight  years'  struggle  for  self- 
government  in  the  Southern  States,  though  culminating  in  revised 
constitutions  and  legislation,  had  at  the  same  time  consumed  the 
greater  part  of  the  public  energies.  It  had  been  a  struggle  for 
political  existence,  and  education  continued  to  be  forced  by  the 
circumstances  and  conditions  of  the  time  into  a  neglect  that  was 
almost  disastrous. 

Largely  as  an  outgrowth  of  that  struggle  the  curse  of  politics 
was  visited  upon  the  schools  and  stood  as  still  another  stubborn 
obstacle  full  in  the  face  of  advancement.  Its  poison  penetrated 
deeply.  In  policies  of  school  support,  in  organization  and  admin- 
istration, in  supervision  and  control,  its  blight  was  so  deadening 
that  few  features  of  public-school  work  escaped  its  ill  effects. 
Unscrupulous  men  in  office  and  local  political  bosses  had  been 
taught  during  the  years  following  the  war  how  to  exploit  the 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     419 

schools  to  achieve  partisan  purposes.  The  lesson  was  so  thor- 
oughly learned  at  that  time  that  for  many  years  afterwards 
county  and  city  school  organization  in  almost  every  Southern 
State  was  in  the  grasp  of  the  so-called  "courthouse  ring,"  which 
never  hesitated  to  subordinate  to  political  expediency  the  welfare 
of  the  schools;  and  these  were  often  regarded  as  the  spoils  of 
political  victory  rather  than  places  of  public  trust  and  opportuni- 
ties for  promoting  public  well-being.  In  many  places  the  schools 
are  not  yet  emancipated  from  the  damaging  influence  or  cured  of 
this  traditional  ill,  though  the  tendency  is  now  somewhat  more 
reassuring  than  formerly. 

Another  obstacle  to  public  educational  progress  in  the  South 
had  grown  out  of  the  issue  of  mixed  schools,  which  had  such  a 
mischievous  influence  throughout  the  years  of  reconstruction. 
Viewed  from  the  purpose  or  the  result  of  that  period  the  negro  was 
the  chief  center  of  interest  during  that  time.  He  was  pitiably  ex- 
ploited and  by  those  who  loudly  proclaimed  themselves  his  friends. 
Since  that  time  he  has  remained  a  disturbing  element.  For  many 
years  his  presence  retarded  the  advancement  of  schools  and  served 
also  to  lower  political  morals  and  to  threaten  political  stagnation. 

But  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  negro  that  he  was  a  social  ill  of 
such  distressing  proportions  or  that  he  stood  so  long  in  the  way 
of  educational  progress.  The  curse  of  his  ignorance,  which  had 
played  into  the  hands  of  designing  politicians  during  reconstruc- 
tion, continued  to  make  him  a  barrier  to  social  advancement.  The 
thoughtful  white  people  of  the  South  were  friendly  to  him  then,  and 
since  that  time  have  been  his  best  friends ;  they  considered  him 
educable  for  work,  for  improvement,  and  for  useful  citizenship. 
They  knew  that  the  right  kind  of  school  was  the  only  safe  remedy 
for  his  condition.  And  the  effort  which  the  white  people  of  the 
South  made  to  share  their  meager  school  funds  for  his  education  is 
one  of  the  creditable  commentaries  on  public  educational  thought 
in  that  section  of  the  country. 

As  a  result  of  these  causes  public  schools  in  the  South  before 
1900  were  poor  beyond  comparison.  In  that  year  the  annual 


420  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

amount  provided  for  each  child  of  school  age  ranged  from  50  cents 
in  Alabama  and  North  Carolina  to  $1.46  in  Florida  and  Texas, 
while  the  average  for  the  United  States  was  $2.84.  The  annual 
amount  raised  for  school  support  per  adult  ranged  from  $2.65  in 
Alabama  and  North  Carolina  to  $6.37  in  Texas,  while  the  average 
for  the  country  at  large  was  $10.93.  The  expenditure  per  pupil  in 
average  attendance  varied  from  $3.10  in  Alabama  to  $  10.18  in 
Texas  and  $10.25  ^n  Florida. 

The  school  term  in  1900  varied  from  seventy  days  in  North 
Carolina  to  one  hundred  and  nineteen  days  in  Louisiana  and  Vir- 
ginia. The  average  for  the  entire  South  was  less  than  one  hundred 
days,  while  the  average  for  the  United  States  was  approximately 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  days.  The  average  monthly  salary 
paid  teachers  in  North  Carolina  and  Alabama  was  only  $24,  in 
Mississippi  and  Virginia  it  was  $32,  and  in  Florida  it  was  ap- 
proximately $34.  Between  1860  and  1900  the  average  annual 
salary  of  teachers  in  the  South  decreased  from  $175  to  $159. 
The  average  for  the  United  States  in  the  latter  year  was  $310. 
Not  only  were  salaries  low  but  in  some  cases  the  payment  of  them 
was  uncertain..  In  South  Carolina  in  the  eighties  the  payment  of 
teachers'  salaries  at  the  face  value  of  the  vouchers  was  regarded 
as  a  progressive  step.  Less  than  60  per  cent  of  the  school  popula- 
tion was  enrolled  in  school  and  less  than  40  per  cent  was  in 
daily  attendance.  No  Southern  State  had  provided  compulsory 
school-attendance  legislation  before  1900,  though  interest  in  the 
enactment  of  such  laws  was  gradually  revealing  itself  here  and 
there.  Only  one  pupil  out  of  ten  of  those  enrolled  reached  the 
fifth  grade  and  only  one  in  seventy  reached  the  eighth  grade.  The 
burden  of  illiteracy  in  the  various  States  was  heavy.  It  ranged 
from  30  to  45  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  and  the  percentage 
of  illiteracy  among  the  white  population  was  three  times  the 
average  for  the  United  States. 

The  per-capita  expenditure  for  public  education  remained 
pitifully  low  throughout  the  period  from  1875  to  1900  and  pro- 
vided only  the  most  meager  elementary  educational  facilities,  and 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     421 

in  the  country  districts  of  the  South  almost  no  public  high-school 
instruction  was  provided.  The  courses  of  study  prescribed  by  the 
school  laws  in  the  various  States  had  expanded,  but  the  large 
number  of  poorly  equipped  teachers  and  the  almost  total  lack  of 
supervision  rendered  such  courses  chaotic  and  ineffective.  The 
teachers  often  taught  whatever  their  whims  or  fancies  suggested 
or  whatever  they  thought  themselves  best  prepared  to  teach. 
Some  of  them  did  the  best  they  could,  but  most  of  them  merely 
"kept  school."  At  best  the  schools  were  imperfectly  graded,  and 
as  a  rule  the  methods  of  teaching  were  deadening  and  wasteful. 
The  schoolhouses  (especially  in  the  rural  districts)  were  often 
log  or  dilapidated  buildings  without  windows,  desks,  tables,  maps, 
charts,  or  blackboards.  Backless  benches  were  frequently  the 
only  furniture  or  equipment  found  in  most  of  them.  The  average 
value  of  rural  schoolhouses  in  the  South  as  late  as  1900  was  only 
about  $100.  In  view  of  the  poor  conditions  which  surrounded 
the  schools  it  was  fortunate  that  the  term  was  short. 

The  conditions  of  administration  and  supervision  of  schools 
were  likewise  unwholesome.  The  state  systems  were  rarely  ever 
headed  by  educational  statesmen.  State  superintendents  were 
not  selected  for  their  professional  training,  vision,  qualities  of 
leadership,  executive  skill,  or  their  genius  for  organization  and 
administration.  They  were  generally  politicians,  lawyers,  soldiers, 
or  patriots,  and  the  conditions  of  the  office  usually  made  them  little 
more  than  clerks,  with  short  tenure  of  office.  County  superintend- 
ents were  likewise  deficient  in  professional  training  and  ability, 
largely  because  of  the  method  of  selection,  brief  tenure,  and  low 
remuneration.  They  were  usually  unskilled  in  teaching,  lacking 
in  business  ability,  and  uninterested,  colorless,  and  uninspiring 
as  leaders.  The  positions  often  went  to  briefless  young  lawyers, 
broken-down  preachers,  or  to  some  other  incompetent  person  as 
a  reward  for  some  political  service.  Definite  qualifications  for  the 
county  superintendent  were  not  legally  prescribed,  and  in  some 
counties  it  was  not  expected  that  he  should  be  educated.  The  fail- 
ure to  demand  for  the  head  of  the  state  and  county  school  systems 


422  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

of  the  South  recognized  leaders  in  educational  work — men  of 
executive  ability  and  professional  skill — served  to  retard  public- 
school  progress,  and  its  ill  effects  are  felt  today. 

In  district  or  local  supervision  and  direction  the  school  work 
was  also  defective.  Each  little  school  was  left  to  itself,  with  no 
attention  from  state  or  county  officials,  and  its  own  trustees  were 
too  often  interested  only  in  getting  schoolhouses  located  near  their 
homes  or  in  employing  their  relatives  or  friends  as  teachers.  It 
is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  policy  of  multiplying  schools 
by  building  a  schoolhouse  in  every  little  neighborhood  to  satisfy 
the  whim  of  some  influential  family  was  ruinous  or  that  the  exam- 
ination of  teachers  was  usually  a  mere  standardless  formality  and 
often  a  farce.  And  nearly  nine  tenths  of  the  children  of  the  South 
were  dependent  for  all  the  education  they  ever  received  on  the 
rural  schools,  which  were  neglected  in  these  and  other  ways. 

As  late  as  1900  the  public-school  system  of  almost  every  South- 
ern State  was  defective  in  these  and  other  respects.  About  that 
time  the  state  commissioner  of  Georgia  described  the  school  sys- 
tem of  that  State  as  "totally  and  radically  inadequate,"  and  loud 
complaints  and  stringent  appeals  for  reform  came  from  other 
States.  The  situation  generally  may  be  fairly  well  described  by 
an  excerpt  from  the  report  of  the  state  superintendent  of  South 
Carolina  in  1900: 

It  is  a  misnomer  to  say  that  we  have  a  system  of  public  schools. 
In  the  actual  working  of  the  great  majority  of  the  schools  in  this 
State,  there  is  no  system,  no  orderly  organization.  Each  county  sup- 
ports its  own  schools  with  practically  no  help  from  the  State  as  a  whole. 
Each  district  has  as  poor  schools  as  its  people  will  tolerate,  and  in  some 
districts  anything  will  be  tolerated.  Each  teacher  works  along  in  her 
own  way,  whatever  that  may  be,  almost  uninfluenced  by  the  existence 
of  any  other  school  or  school  authority.  Isolation  reigns.  This  is  not 
inspiring  or  stimulating.  ...  I  am  convinced  that  our  educational 
system  has  certain  fatal  defects,  and  that  all  efforts  at  improvement 
must  fail  of  substantial  results  until  by  the  necessary  legislation  these 
defects  are  removed  and  the  system  is  put  on  a  sound  and  safe  basis 
for  growth  and  development. 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     423 

Under  the  peculiarly  discouraging  conditions  which  confronted 
the  people  of  the  South  during  the  quarter  century  here  considered 
it  is  surprising  that  anything  at  all  was  done  for  schools.  Belief 
in  schools  as  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  State  prevailed  as  a 
theory,  but  serious  interest  in  them  was  not  wide  and  deep.  In 
addition  to  the  deadening  influence  of  the  obstacles  already  de- 
scribed, the  conservative  and  aristocratic  conception  of  education 
was  somewhat  strengthened  by  the  new  relations  of  the  negro,  and 
the  so-called  upper  classes  believed  that  the  meager  resources  for 
school  support  were  sufficient.  The  theory  was  strong  among  this 
element  that  the  function  of  the  State  did  not  extend  to  public 
education ;  education  at  state  expense  was  occasionally  viewed  as 
an  invasion  of  parental  obligation,  and  the  theory  that  the  State 
can  levy  on  its  property  for  public-school  support  was  often  at- 
tacked as  unjust.  These  views  were  strengthened  by  the  demand 
for  policies  of  retrenchment  in  public  expenditures  and  by  the 
slogan  of  white  supremacy.  And  the  poorer  people  often  refused 
to  patronize  the  schools  which  were  provided,  largely  because  the 
inferior  character  of  the  advantages  offered  failed  to  command 
public  respect. 

Here  and  there  throughout  the  South,  however,  signs  of  educa- 
tional interest  began  to  appear  in  the  nineties.  Prior  to  that  time 
forward  steps  were  occasionally  undertaken,  but  only  slight  gains 
were  made.  Provisions  for  increased  state  and  local  funds  were 
frequently  urged  and  slight  revisions  in  school  legislation  were 
made  to  that  end,  but  they  were  usually  discretionary  and  there- 
fore inoperative.  By  special  legislation  and  under  certain  restric- 
tive conditions  local  taxes  for  school  support  were  permitted  in 
some  States,  but  the  general  movement  did  not  gain  strength  until 
after  1900.  But  the  attitude  generally  held  on  this  subject  by  the 
more  enlightened  leaders  of  the  time  was  expressed  by  Superin- 
tendent John  W.  Abercrombie,  of  Alabama,  in  1900 : 

Then,  if  our  funds  are  not  sufficiently  large,  what  shall  we  do? 
Shall  we  fold  our  arms  and  wait  until  Alabama  doubles  in  wealth  ?  .  .  . 


424  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

What  we  should  do — what  other  States  have  done — what  we  must  do, 
if  we  would  properly  qualify  our  people  for  citizenship,  is  to  give  to 
counties,  townships,  districts,  and  municipalities  the  power  of  taxation 
for  educational  purposes.  If  the  people  of  any  county,  township,  dis- 
trict, city  or  town  desire  to  levy  a  tax  upon  their  property  to  build  a 
schoolhouse,  or  to  supplement  the  state  fund,  for  the  purpose  of  edu- 
cating their  children,  they  should  have  the  power  to  do  it.  The  right 
of  local  self-government  is  a  principle  for  which  the  Southern  people, 
and  especially  the  people  of  Alabama,  have  always  contended;  .  .  . 
yet,  in  the  matter  of  providing  for  the  education  of  our  boys  and  girls, 
it  is  a  right  which  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State  denies  us.  ... 
There  should  be  no  limit,  constitutional  or  statutory,  general  or  local, 
to  the  power  of  the  people  who  own  property  to  tax  themselves  for 
the  purpose  of  fitting  the  children  of  the  State  for  intelligent  and 
patriotic  citizenship. 

There  was  also  a  revival  of  the  educational  press,  which  advo- 
cated improvements  in  schools  and  other  civic  interests.  The 
organization  of  the  teachers  in  the  various  States,  the  formation 
of  teachers'  institutes  and  teachers'  reading-circle  work  (though 
imperfect  and  unsatisfactory),  and  the  rise  and  expansion  of 
normal  schools  for  the  teachers  of  both  races  were  other  agencies 
which  had  helped  measurably  to  awaken  an  educational  conscious- 
ness and  to  stimulate  effort  against  the  apathy  and  reaction  of  the 
period.  But  no  settled  policies  for  progressive  programs  of  public 
education  were  inaugurated ;  most  attempts  were  sporadic,  time- 
serving, political  expedients  which  brought  little  permanent  relief 
for  the  schools.  New  foundations  were  necessary  before  whole- 
hearted response  could  be  made  to  a  new  impulse  of  educational 
reform,  and  such  foundations  were  not  laid  until  near  the  close 
of  the  century. 

The  incentive  for  educational  reform  depended  first  on  a  sub- 
stantial increase  in  economic  wealth,  for  without  this  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  adequate  system  of  public  schools  was  impossible. 
Before  the  deadening  indifference  and  uncertainty  of  the  period 
could  be  overcome  the  economic  relapses  of  the  war  and  the  years 
following  had  first  to  be  outgrown.  Then  and  then  only  could  the 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     425 

people  of  the  South  turn  their  faces  toward  the  future  and  begin 
seriously  the  work  of  restoring  Southern  life  and  institutions.  Not 
until  then  were  they  courageous  enough  to  study  and  face  the  facts 
as  they  were,  to  demand  the  truth  concerning  the  schools,  and  to 
seek  ways  of  improving  them. 

Economic  recuperation  had  been  very  slow  for  many  years,  but 
in  the  early  nineties  it  became  more  rapid.  The  production  of 
cotton  greatly  increased,  industrial  interests  of  many  kinds  multi- 
plied, large  capital  was  invested  in  cotton  manufacturing,  railroad- 
building  expanded,  and  progress  was  being  made  in  other  directions 
as  well.  During  the  last  decade  of  the  century  the  increase  of 
wealth  in  the  Southern  States  was  nearly  50  per  cent.  This  be- 
came the  basis  of  substantial  increases  in  school  revenues  and  the 
foundation  of  a  new  attitude  toward  public  education  which  began 
to  make  itself  felt  throughout  the  South  after  1900. 

With  this  increase  in  economic  wealth  there  appeared  a  new  and 
influential  middle  class,  thrifty  and  prosperous  and  ambitious  for 
and  able  to  secure  some  part  in  public  affairs.  Prior  to  1860  politi- 
cal power  in  the  South  had  been  monopolized  largely  by  the  landed 
and  slaveholding  classes,  which  represented  also  the  supremacy  in 
social  and  administrative  ability.  On  account  of  the  distinctions 
generally  made  by  property  qualifications  for  officeholding  the 
masses  had  felt  themselves  deprived  of  their  rightful  places  in  the 
affairs  of  the  State.  The  more  prosperous  classes  and  their  prop- 
erty were  considerably  depleted  by  the  devastation  of  the  war,  but 
the  younger  generation  of  them,  largely  because  of  their  superior 
advantages,  continued  for  several  years  after  1876  to  occupy  most 
of  the  places  of  public  leadership.  But  through  stimulation  of 
service  in  the  war  and  the  challenge  of  an  awakened  democracy 
later,  there  gradually  developed  an  upward  movement  among  the 
masses.  They  were  drawn  more  closely  together  and  were  led  to 
seek  through  their  ambition  and  industry  and  the  unity  of  their 
civic  heritage  the  means  of  opportunity  for  all.  As  the  more 
capable  and  naturally  ambitious  of  them  became  conscious  of  their 
power  they  sought  participation  in  social  and  political  activities. 


426  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

They  helped  to  secure  a  substantial  response  to  the  needs  of  the 
masses  through  their  interest  in  an  extension  of  public-school 
opportunities,  which  always  becomes  necessary  as  democracy 
becomes  a  reality. 

In  the  "awakening  of  a  class  consciousness"  among  the  people 
of  the  strictly  rural  sections  of  the  South  appeared  another  influ- 
ence for  improved  school  facilities.  This  expressed  itself  through 
such  organizations  as  the  Farmers'  Alliance  and  the  Grange,  which 
often  gave  attention  to  schools  and  other  civic  agencies,  as  well  as 
to  purely  economic  interests.  In  resolutions  on  the  subject  they 
often  insisted  upon  the  necessity  of  education  for  the  masses  of  the 
people.  They  believed  that  the  uneducated  people  were  "always 
at  the  mercy  of  the  better  informed"  and  urged  that  the  members 
take  more  interest  in  the  cause  of  public  schools  so  that  "the 
blessings  of  education "  could  be  secured  to  their  children. 

Before  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  had  developed 
also  a  generation  of  leaders  in  the  South  who  were  hopeful  of  the 
future.  They  believed  that  the  Southern  people  were  rapidly  over- 
coming the  financial  and  political  results  of  the  war  and  recon- 
struction and  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  going  forward.  They 
knew  that  prosperity  and  well-being  could  be  restored  only  by  the 
establishment  of  schools  and  that  the  full  development  of  the  South 
depended  upon  the  education  of  all  the  people.  They  viewed  with 
impatience  the  educational  weakness  of  the  time  and  insisted  that 
the  truth  about  the  schools  be  told.  They  attacked  demagoguery 
and  attempts  to  exploit  the  public  mind  with  vain  boasts  and 
declarations  of  exaggerated  achievements.  So  little  had  been  done 
for  schools  and  so  much  needed  to  be  done  that  the  opportunity 
for  reform  made  strong  appeal  to  these  leaders,  and  they  thus 
helped  the  South  to  gain  a  new  sense  of  educational  duty  and  to 
seek  new  and  better  ways  of  enlarging  opportunities  for  all. 

Another  influence  which  gave  impetus  to  the  spirit  of  educa- 
tional reform  grew  out  of  the  radical  political  changes  which 
marked  the  closing  decade  of  the  century.  Numerous  small  politi- 
cal parties,  such  as  the  Union  Labor  Party  in  Arkansas  and  the 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     427 

Young  Men's  Democracy  in  Louisiana,  grew  up  and  insisted  on 
improved  educational  facilities.  Another  political  party  known  as 
the  People's  Party,  the  Third  Party,  and  the  Populist  Party  de- 
veloped organized  strength  in  nearly  every  Southern  State  and  in 
some  instances  made  for  a  powerful  and  effective  educational  in- 
fluence. Moreover,  it  soon  became  fashionable  for  all  parties  to 
pledge  themselves  to  public-school  support,  and  around  1900  the 
political  platforms  contained  strong  declarations  in  favor  of  that 
cause. 

The  race  issue,  which  had  checked  the  cause  of  public  schools 
during  and  for  two  decades  following  reconstruction,  was  finally 
to  serve  also  as  a  strong  influence  for  educational  progress. 
Through  constitutional  amendments  literacy  was  recognized  as 
essential  to  citizenship  and  required  as  a  qualification  for  suffrage, 
applicable  ultimately  to  both  races.  Disfranchisement  of  illit- 
erates was  in  this  way  to  have  a  beneficent  influence  on  the  educa- 
tional life  of  the  South.  It  placed  a  premium  on  education  and 
drew  sharp  attention  to  the  need  for  enlarged  school  facilities  so 
that  all  the  people,  by  education  and  training,  could  be  fitted  for 
intelligent  citizenship.  Education  now  became  the  issue  of  great- 
est importance.  Happily  for  the  cause  of  schools  most  of  the 
States  were  fortunate  in  their  leaders,  many  of  whom  had  been 
called  to  positions  of  leadership  by  reason  of  their  declared  devo- 
tion to  liberal  educational  policies.  Among  such  leaders  were 
Governor  Aycock  of  North  Carolina  and  Governor  Montague  of 
Virginia.  The  large  place  which  education  had  come  to  occupy  in 
the  minds  of  such  men  and  thousands  of  thoughtful  followers  may 
be  seen  from  the  inaugural  address  of  Aycock  in  January,  1901 : 

On  a  hundred  platforms,  to  half  the  voters  of  the  State,  in  the  late 
campaign,  I  pledged  the  State,  its  strength,  its  heart,  its  wealth,  to 
universal  education.  I  promised  the  illiterate  poor  man,  bound  to  a 
life  of  toil  and  struggle  and  poverty,  that  life  should  be  brighter  for 
his  boy  and  girl  than  it  had  been  for  him  and  the  partner  of  his 
sorrows  and  joys.  I  pledged  the  wealth  of  the  State  to  the  education 
of  his  children.  Men  of  wealth,  representatives  of  great  corporations, 


428          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

applauded  eagerly  my  declaration.  I  then  realized  that  the  strong 
desire  which  dominated  me  for  the  unlifting  of  the  whole  people 
moved  not  only  my  heart,  but  was  likewise  the  hope  and  aspiration 
of  those  upon  whom  Fortune  had  smiled.  .  .  .  We  are  prospering  as 
never  before — our  wealth  increases,  our  industries  multiply,  our  com- 
merce extends,  and  among  the  owners  of  this  wealth,  this  multiplying 
industry,  this  extending  commerce,  I  have  found  no  man  who  is  unwill- 
ing to  make  the  State  stronger  and  better  by  liberal  aid  to  the  cause 
of  education.  Gentlemen  of  the  Legislature,  you  will  not  have  aught 
to  fear  when  you  make  ample  provision  for  the  education  of  the  whole 
people.  .  .  .  For  my  part  I  declare  to  you  that  it  shall  be  my  constant 
aim  and  effort,  during  the  four  years  that  I  shall  endeavor  to  serve  the 
people  of  this  State,  to  redeem  this  most  solemn  of  all  our  pledges. 

Here  as  in  other  States  in  the  South  advanced  ground  was  in 
these  ways  won  for  the  schools.  Legislative  appropriations  for 
school  support  soon  began  to  increase  materially,  provisions  for 
state  taxation  began  to  be  enlarged  and  made  more  nearly  ade- 
quate, and  policies  of  local  taxation  were  inaugurated  generally. 
Improvements  slowly  appeared  also  in  the  administration  and 
direction  of  schools,  and,  finally,  measures  of  further  development 
came  through  compulsory-attendance  laws  which  began  to  be 
enacted  generally  throughout  the  South.  More  attention  was  now 
to  be  claimed  for  schools  than  ever  before,  and  public  education 
was  soon  to  be  settled  upon  as  the  principal  means  of  promoting 
real  and  lasting  progress  in  a  section  which  had  so  long  lagged  be- 
hind. By  the  opening  of  the  new  century  a  new  era  began  to  dawn. 

These  changes — increase  in  wealth,  the  appearance  of  an  ambi- 
tious middle  class  and  a  new  race  of  leaders,  the  awakening  of 
class  consciousness  among  the  rural  population,  the  political  revolt, 
and  the  elimination  of  the  race  issue  in  politics — prepared  the  way 
for  effective  educational  advance.1  But  there  was  need  for  organ- 
ized agencies  to  carry  on  educational  propaganda  so  as  to  acquaint 
the  people  with  actual  conditions  and  needs  and  lead  them  to  a 
new  public-school  idea. 

1Boyd,  "Some  Phases  of  Educational  History  in  the  South  since  1865," 
in  "Studies  in  Southern  History  and  Politics."  New  York,  1914. 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     429 

This  need  was  to  be  met  in  large  part  by  the  work  which 
developed  from  the  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South,1  which 
grew  out  of  a  personal  conference  of  men  and  women  of  the  North 
and  the  South  at  Capon  Springs,  West  Virginia,  in  the  summer  of 
1898,  known  as  the  Conference  for  Christian  Education  in  the 
South.  The  meeting  was  small  in  attendance,  but  it  touched  a 
note  of  reality  and  need  which  gave  its  future  work  wide  signif- 
icance and  lasting  effectiveness.  At  the  second  meeting  the  name 
was  changed  to  the  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South.  The 
second  and  third  conferences  were  held  at  the  same  place  in  the 
summers  of  1899  and  1900,  and  succeeding  meetings  were  held  in 
Winston-Salem,  North  Carolina;  Athens,  Georgia;  Richmond, 
Virginia;  Birmingham,  Alabama ;  Columbia,  South  Carolina ;  Lex- 
ington, Kentucky ;  Pinehurst,  North  Carolina ;  Memphis,  Tennes- 
see ;  and  in  other  places.  Dr.  T.  U.  Dudley  of  Kentucky  presided 
over  the  first  conference,  Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  agent  of  the  Peabody 
and  the  Slater  Boards,  presided  over  the  second,  and  at  the  third 
conference  Mr.  Robert  C.  Ogden  of  New  York  was  elected  presi- 
dent and  served  in  that  position  for  several  years.  To  his  gener- 
ous enterprise,  resourcefulness,  and  administrative  wisdom  much 
of  the  success  of  the  movement  was  due.  For  many  years  he 
invited  numerous  people  in  the  North  who  were  interested  in 
education  to  attend  these  annual  meetings  as  his  guests,  and  for 
their  accommodation  he  provided  special  trains.  In  this  way  in- 
fluential people  of  the  North  became  acquainted  with  those  of 
congenial  spirit  in  the  South  and  thus  gained  a  safer  knowledge  of 
Southern  life,  its  perplexing  conditions,  and  its  pressing  needs.  At 
the  instance  of  the  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South  the 
Southern  Education  Board  was  organized  in  1901  for  further  edu- 
cational service.  A  year  later  the  General  Education  Board  was 
formed  with  the  purpose  of  wise  and  systematic  cooperation  with 
the  Southern  Education  Board,  and  its  services  to  education  in  the 
South  have  been  large  and  varied. 

1This  was  also  known  as  the  Southern  Conference  Movement,  the  South- 
ern Educational  Movement,  and  the  Odgen  Movement. 


430  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Extensive  and  systematic  field  work  was  planned  with  Dr.  J.  L. 
M.  Curry  as  supervising  director  and  President  Edwin  A.  Alder- 
man of  Tulane  University,  President  Charles  D.  Mclver  of  the 
North  Carolina  Normal  and  Industrial  College,  and  President 
H.  B.  Frissel  of  Hampton  Institute,  Virginia,  as  district  directors. 
President  C.  W.  Dabney  of  the  University  of  Tennessee  was 
named  as  the  chief  of  the  bureau  of  investigation,  information, 
and  publication.  The  services  of  Professor  P.  P.  Claxton  of  the 
University  of  Tennessee  and  Professor  J.  D.  Eggleston,  Jr.,  of 
Virginia  were  secured  for  the  bureau  of  publicity  which  was  estab- 
lished at  the  University  of  Tennessee,  Knoxville.  The  plans  and 
purposes  of  the  novel  educational  campaign  thus  begun  met  with 
the  hearty  indorsement  of  the  press  of  the  Southern  States  and 
with  the  practical  support  and  assistance  of  the  leading  people  at 
that  time  engaged  in  school  work  in  the  South.  Able  advocates  of 
better  schools  came  forward  promptly  and  enlisted  their  services 
in  the  movement.  The  work  and  method  of  the  campaigns  which 
followed  may  be  seen  from  the  following  description:1 

Presidents  and  professors  in  the  universities  and  colleges,  lawyers, 
business  men,  and  holders  of  office — the  friends  of  progress  and  the 
molders  of  popular  opinion  were  quick  to  see  their  opportunity  and  to 
improve  it.  The  most  practical  school  questions  came  up  for  discus- 
sion: local  questions  and  those  more  general;  better  buildings  and  a 
higher  grade  of  teaching  for  the  particular  community ;  improved  legis- 
lation, wiser  taxation,  larger  appropriations,  and  more  efficient  admin- 
istration of  the  entire  educational  system  of  the  State.  People  gathered 
in  mass  meetings  at  their  court-houses,  in  churches,  and  in  public 
halls,  in  the  city  and  in  the  country  alike,  to  hear  men  talk  on  educa- 
tion, to  listen  intently  to  discussions  about  the  improvement  of  their 
children's  schooling.  Larger  numbers  came  out  to  these  gatherings 
than  to  any  others.  Political  orators  and  spellbinders  in  a  political  cam- 
paign failed  to  secure  the  attendance  or  to  arouse  the  enthusiasm  of 

1Dickerman,  "The  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South  and  the 
Southern  Education  Board,"  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education  (1907),  Vol.  I. 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING    431 

these  college  presidents,  superintendents,  and  school  teachers,  who  came 
with  their  message  of  a  brighter  hope  and  a  higher  service  for  the 
children. 

The  sweep  and  power  of  this  movement  appeared  in  the  Sixth  Con- 
ference, in  1903,  at  Richmond.  Many  of  the  speakers  came  there 
directly  from  the  campaign  work  in  which  they  had  been  engaged  in 
different  parts  of  the  South,  from  Virginia,  from  the  Carolinas,  from 
Georgia,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  and  their 
addresses  in  some  cases  were  partly  the  same  which  they  had  used 
with  the  people  of  their  respective  States.  This  event  was  like  the 
focalization  of  the  best  thought  and  feeling  now  coming  into  vigorous 
expression  everywhere.  A  comparison  of  the  Richmond  meeting  with 
the  last  one  at  Capon  Springs  three  years  before  shows  how  fast 
things  had  been  moving.  At  Capon  Springs  there  was  an  attendance  of 
forty-four,  and  two-thirds  of  these  were  either  Northern  people  or 
people  of  Northern  antecedents ;  of  the  fourteen  who  were  wholly  of 
the  South,  one  was  from  Kentucky,  one  from  Georgia,  and  all  the  others 
from  Virginia.  There  was  not  a  superintendent  of  schools  present,  not 
one — state  superintendent  or  county  superintendent.  Of  the  great 
schools  founded  and  maintained  by  Southern  people,  several  were  rep- 
resented by  delegates  of  great  influence,  but  all  of  these  were  from  the 
one  State  of  Virginia.  Nor  was  the  press  of  the  South  any  better 
represented ;  only  the  editor  of  one  paper  was  there.  The  meeting  was 
significant;  it  dealt  with  a  great  subject,  and  it  took  into  view  great 
movements  that  were  surely  on  their  way,  but  it  was  unknown 
through  the  South.  Three  years  later,  at  Richmond,  only  about  150 
miles  from  the  former  place  of  gathering,  how  different  it  was!  The 
whole  South  knew  of  that  meeting,  and  the  South  was  there  with 
representatives  of  its  noblest  educational  institutions. 

At  this  meeting  also  there  was  a  more  representative  attendance  of 
people  from  the  North  than  had  been  seen  at  any  similar  gathering  on 
Southern  soil.  One  reason  for  this  was  the  place  of  holding  the 
Conference,  Richmond,  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy.  With  the 
spread  of  a  national  spirit,  rising  superior  to  sectional  considerations 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  this  historic  city  had  an  attractiveness 
peculiarly  its  own  for  the  purpose  designed.  Of  all  centers  of  influence 
and  of  inspiring  associations  for  the  South,  this  was  foremost,  this  the 
metropolis  from  which  most  effectively  and  fittingly  might  radiate  the 
forces  of  a  higher  educational  life. 


432  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  work  of  these  unusual  agencies  had  a  powerful  and  prac- 
tical influence  on  educational  development  in  the  Southern 
States,  especially  in  serving  to  promote  active  campaigns  for  better 
public  schools.  Such  campaigns  were  carried  on  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  1902,  in  Virginia  in  1903,  in  Georgia  and  Tennessee  in 
1904,  in  South  Carolina,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi  in  1905,  and 
in  Arkansas  and  Florida  in  1908.  Some  of  them  continued  for 
several  years,  with  very  fruitful  results. 

In  many  States  the  educational  provisions  of  the  constitutions 
and  laws  were  revised  and  improved.  Throughout  the  South 
generally  improvement  appeared  in  many  ways.  In  less  than  a 
decade  school  revenue  increased  more  than  100  per  cent  and  in 
some  States  the  increase  was  nearly  200  per  cent.  The  value  of 
rural  schoolhouses  showed  a  large  increase,  and  there  was  marked 
improvement  in  enrollment  and  attendance.  Illiteracy  decreased 
from  27  per  cent  to  18  per  cent,  local  taxes  multiplied,  and  the 
school  term  grew  from  96.9  days  in  1900  to  121.7  days  ten  years 
later. 

Teachers'  salaries  increased  considerably  in  comparison  with 
those  paid  in  1900,  though  in  most  States  they  were  much  lower 
than  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Progress  was  made  in  the  work 
of  training  prospective  teachers  through  state-supported  normal 
schools,  which  increased  in  most  of  the  States,  and  departments  of 
education,  which  were  established  in  all  the  leading  institutions  of 
higher  learning  in  the  South.  Schools  of  education  were  formed  in 
the  state  universities  and  numerous  courses  offered  for  the  pro- 
fessional training  of  school  administrators,  high-school  principals, 
and  teachers.  Teacher-training  classes  in  high  schools  of  standard 
grade  also  made  a  beginning,  facilities  for  the  training  of  teachers 
in  service  increased,  and  the  certification  of  teachers,  which  had 
not  developed  in  the  South  before  1900,  after  that  date  showed 
hopeful  signs  of  improvement.  This  important  work  was  not 
promptly  put  on  a  sound  basis  in  all  the  States,  however,  and  in 
many  of  them  there  is  still  much  to  be  done  before  the  professional- 
ization  of  public-school  teachers  can  be  secured. 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     433 

As  a  result  of  the  revival  movement  in  public  education  impetus 
was  also  given  to  high  schools,  which  began  to  be  established  in 
the  rural  communities  and  as  a  part  of  the  state  school  system. 
New  interest  was  also  given  to  consolidating  the  small  rural 
schools  into  larger  graded  schools  with  improved  equipment  and 
better  teachers,  to  vitalizing  the  courses  of  study  of  both  the  ele- 
mentary and  the  high  schools  through  correlation  of  the  work  with 
the  life  of  the  people,  to  establishing  rural  libraries,  to  organizing 
school-improvement  leagues  and  parent-teachers'  associations,  to 
improving  supervision  through  a  better  type  of  county  superin- 
tendent, and  to  enacting  better  compulsory-attendance  and  child- 
labor  laws. 

It  is  said  that  when  Santa  Anna  was  captured  on  San  Jacinto  he 
asked  Houston  how  he  was  able  with  so  small  a  force  to  win  such 
a  complete  and  signal  victory.  Drawing  from  his  pocket  an  ear  of 
corn  Houston  is  said  to  have  replied,  "When  patriots  fight  on  such 
rations  as  this,  they  are  unconquerable."  It  was  this  kind  of  spirit 
which  enabled  the  people  of  the  South,  after  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  difficulties  and  discouragement,  to  begin  the  impor- 
tant enterprise  of  building  schools  for  the  proper  education  of  their 
children.  Many  of  those  difficulties  were  stubborn  and  mischievous 
and  stood  for  years  as  a  deadly  upas  to  enfeeble  and  obstruct 
wholesome  social  growth,  but  they  were  finally  overcome  by  the 
heroic  effort  and  indomitable  courage  of  those  men  and  women 
who  looked  forward  and  not  back  and  who  stood  pledged  to  the 
education  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  South. 

A  beginning  was  thus  made,  but,  important  as  it  was,  it  can  be 
looked  upon  now  as  no  more  than  a  beginning.  From  that  start, 
however,  the  principle  of  universal  education  has  found  wide  ac- 
ceptance, and  its  application  has  greatly  advanced  in  the  South 
since  the  awakening.  But  the  equality  of  educational  oppor- 
tunity has  not  yet  been  practically  guaranteed  to  all  the  children 
in  the  South,  although  progress  is  being  made  in  that  direction. 
The  progress  and  the  present  tendencies  and  tasks  of  the  public 
schools  will  be  considered  in  the  next  chapter. 


434  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Study  the  educational  progress  of  your  State  between  1876  and 
1900  as  shown  by  expenditures,  enrollment,  attendance,  qualifications 
of  teachers,  physical  equipment  of  the  schools,  length  of  school  term, 
courses  of  study,  and  facilities  for  high-school  instruction. 

2.  Study  the  development  of  the  economic  wealth  of  your  State 
in  recent  years  for  relations  between  it  and  increased  school  taxes. 

3.  Do  you  agree  with   the   statement   in   this   chapter   that   the 
poverty-stricken  condition  of  the  South  was  the  principal  cause  of  its 
educational  backwardness  prior  to  1900? 

4.  Account  for  the  fact  that  in  many  parts  of  the  South  public 
educational  conditions  were  less  promising  in  the  nineties  than  in  1876. 

5.  Study  (a)  provisions  for  training,  examining,  and  certificating 
teachers,  (b)  growth  of  educational  journalism,  (c)  child-labor  and  com- 
pulsory-attendance laws,  (d)  courses  of  study  and  methods  of  adopting 
textbooks,   (e)   regulations  controlling  the  building  and  equipping  of 
schoolhouses,    (/)   consolidation  of  schools,   (g)   provisions   for  local 
school  taxes,  (h)  qualifications  of  state  and  county  superintendents  in 
your  State  between  1876  and  1900. 

6.  Study  the  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South  for  educa- 
tional influences  in  your  State.   Who  were  the  leaders  of  the  movement 
in  your  State  ? 

7.  Why  is  the  willingness  to  vote  local  taxes  for  schools  a  good 
measure  of  a  community's  educational  interest?    Why  was  local-tax 
sentiment  so  slow  to  develop  in  the  South  ?    What  limit,  if  any,  should 
there  be  to  the  power  of  the  people  to  tax  themselves  for  schools  ? 

8.  List  the  principal  incentives  or  causes  of  the  educational  awak- 
ening in  your  State. 

9.  Should  an  illiterate  person  be  allowed  to  vote?   Why? 

10.  What  was  the  decrease  in  illiteracy  in  your  State  between  1900 
and  1910?  between  1910  and  1920?  What  is  the  extent  of  illiteracy 
in  your  State  now? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  AYRES,  An  Index  Number 
for  State  School  Systems.  New  York,  1920.  BOYD,  "Some  Phases  of  Educa- 
tional History  in  the  South  since  i86s>"  in  Studies  in  Southern  History  and 


READJUSTMENT  AND  THE  REAWAKENING     435 

Politics  (inscribed  to  William  A.  Dunning).  New  York,  1914.  CUBBERLEY, 
Public  Education  in  the  United  States.  Boston,  1919.  DABNEY,  "The  Public 
School  Problem  in  the  South,"  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education  (1901),  Vol.  I.  DICKERMAN,  "Conference  for  Education  in  the 
South  and  Southern  Education  Board,"  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Com- 
missioner of  Education  (1907),  Vol.  I.  HAMILTON,  North  Carolina  since 
1860.  New  York,  1919.  HEATWOLE,  History  of  Education  in  Virginia. 
New  York,  1916.  KNIGHT,  The  Influence  of  Reconstruction  on  Education  in 
the  South.  New  York,  1913.  KNIGHT,  "Public  Education  in  the  South: 
Some  Inherited  Els  and  Some  Needed  Reforms,"  in  School  and  Society, 
January  10,  1920.  KNIGHT,  Public  School  Education  in  North  Carolina. 
New  York,  1916.  KNIGHT,  "Some  Fallacies  concerning  the  History  of  Pub- 
lic Education  in  the  South,"  in  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for  October, 
1914.  NOBLE,  Forty  Years  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Mississippi.  New  York, 
1918.  Proceedings  of  the  Conference  for  Education  in  the  South.  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Peabody  Board  Trustees,  Cambridge;  annual  after  1867. 
Public  Documents  of  the  various  States  (including  reports  of  the  various 
state  officers,  messages  of  the  governors,  and  accompanying  papers).  Re- 
ports of  superintendents  of  public  instruction  of  the  various  States.  Reports 
of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  since  1876.  ROSE,  "The 
Educational  Movement  in  the  South,"  in  Report  of  the  United  States  Com- 
missioner of  Education  (1903),  Vol.  I.  SNYDER,  The  Legal  Status  of  Rural 
High  Schools  in  the  United  States.  New  York,  1909.  WEEKS,  History  of 
Public  School  Education  in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History 
of  Public  School  Education  in  Arkansas.  Washington,  1912.  WEEKS,  His- 
tory of  Public  School  Education  in  Tennessee  (examined  in  manuscript). 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM :  ITS  TASKS  AND  TENDENCIES 

'  Outline  of  the  chapter,  i.  As  a  result  of  the  reform  movement  con- 
siderable progress  has  recently  been  made  in  urban  education,  but  the 
rural  schools  have  responded  slowly,  and  the  result  is  that  the  Southern 
States  still  rank  low  in  public  education. 

2.  Their  present  low  educational  position  is  explained  by  such  facts 
as  the  scarcity  of  funds,  the  dual  system  required,  the  scattered  school 
population,  and  the  low  property  values  which  have  hitherto  prevailed 
generally  in  the  South. 

3.  The  present  administrative  organization  of  public  education  in 
the  South  corresponds  in  the  main  to  that  found  in  other  sections  of 
the  country,  with  the  tendency  to  improvement  in  state  and  county 
support  and  administration,  courses  of  study,  child  labor,  public  wel- 
fare, compulsory  attendance,  and  health  regulations. 

4.  Efforts  are  being  made  to  eliminate  adult  illiteracy  and  to  pro- 
vide more   adequate  instruction  and  training   in   citizenship   and   in 
agricultural  and  industrial  subjects.    Hopeful  signs  of  progress  also 
appear  in  the  movement  to  improve  the  status  of  the  teacher. 

5.  Further  improvements  are  needed,  however,  in  state  and  county 
organization,  support,  and  supervision,  in  the  enrichment  of  the  curricu- 
lum, in  more  intelligent  and  sympathetic  attention  to  the  education  of 
the  negro,  and  in  making  provision  for  more  nearly  adequate  facilities 
for  education  in  the  rural  sections  of  the  South. 

6.  Intelligent  consolidation  offers  the  most  effective  solution  of  the 
rural-school  problem  and  the  surest  improvement  of  rural-life  conditions. 

7.  This  improvement  will  come  through  leadership  and  the  willing- 
ness of  the  people  to  use  the  increasing  economic  wealth  for  the  pro- 
motion of  public  well-being. 

The  impulse  of  reform  and  improvement  which  developed  from 
the  awakening  described  in  the  preceding  chapter  continued  to  be 
so  widely  felt  that  the  past  decade  became  one  of  marked  growth 

436 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  437 

for  public  education  in  the  South.  With  the  exception  of  the 
temporary  interruption  and  confusion  of  the  World  War,  which 
has  finally  served  to  quicken  educational  interest,  improvement 
has  been  steady,  and  the  principle  of  universal  education  has  grad- 
ually gained  strength.  The  decade  just  closing  has  witnessed  large 
increases  in  the  financial  support  of  education  and  improvements 
in  general  educational  legislation,  in  the  facilities  for  training 
and  certificating  teachers,  in  the  physical  equipment  of  schools,  in 
the  courses  of  study  and  methods  of  teaching,  and  in  compulsory- 
attendance,  child-labor,  and  public- welfare  legislation.  The  move- 
ment for  the  consolidation  of  rural  schools  and  the  enrichment  of 
rural  life  has  gained  slight  momentum,  rural  high  schools  have 
slowly  increased,  and  the  general  tendency  has  been  toward  im- 
provement in  organization,  administration,  and  supervision. 

As  a  result  of  recent  progress  schools  in  the  towns  and  cities  of 
the  South  now  compare  favorably  with  urban  schools  in  other  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  But  corresponding  progress  has  not  been 
witnessed  in  the  rural  schools ;  and  in  spite  of  the  general  improve- 
ment made  possible  since  1900,  the  rural  sections  of  the  South 
have  not  responded  to  the  full  influence  of  the  advance  movement. 
But  this  failure  to  respond  is  not  difficult  to  understand.  That 
movement  has  been  most  clearly  felt  in  the  larger  communities, 
where  the  principle  of  cooperation  has  been  most  intelligently  ap- 
plied in  the  solution  of  common  questions  and  in  the  promotion  of 
common  interests.  In  such  communities  cooperative  effort  has 
been  effective  not  only  in  such  enterprises  as  the  building  of  streets 
and  of  lighting,  water,  and  sewerage  systems  but  in  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  public  educational  facilities  for  all  the 
children.  Similar  lessons  in  cooperation  have  not  yet  been  fully 
learned  nor  are  they  appreciated  in  the  rural  and  sparsely  settled 
sections.  This  fact  helps  in  large  measure  to  explain  the  lack  of 
adequate  school  facilities  for  the  country  children  and  the  fact 
that  the  Southern  States  still  stand  near  the  bottom  of  the  list  of 
their  sister  States  in  provisions  made  for  financing,  directing,  and 
developing  adequate  public  educational  work. 


438  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

According  to  a  recent  careful  study  of  public  education  in  the 
United  States,1  the  Southern  States  rank  low  among  the  other 
States,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  three  American  posses- 
sions outside  of  continental  United  States — Hawaii,  Porto  Rico, 
and  the  Canal  Zone.  The  percentage  of  efficiency  of  the  public- 
school  system  in  each  State  was  given  for  stated  periods  from  1890 
to  1918  by  applying  ten  tests  to  each  State  as  follows: 

1.  The  number  of  children  of  school  age  attending  school. 

2.  The  number  of  days  each  child  of  school  age  attended  school. 

3.  The  number  of  days  the  schools  were  kept  open. 

4.  The  number  of  children  of  school  age  in  high  schools. 

5.  The  number  of  boys  as  compared  with  the  number  of  girls  in 
high  schools. 

6.  The  average  annual  expenditure  per  child  attending. 

7.  The  average  annual  expenditure  per  child  of  school  age. 

8.  The  average  annual  expenditure  per  teacher  employed. 

9.  The  expenditure  per  pupil  for  purposes  other  than  teachers' 
salaries. 

10.  The  expenditure  per  teacher  for  salaries. 

The  results  found  for  the  eleven  Southern  States  may  be  viewed 
from  the  table  on  the  next  page.  For  1890,  1900,  and  1910  the 
rank  of  each  State  is  given  with  reference  to  all  the  States  (or 
territories  which  later  became  States)  and  the  District  of  Columbia 
— in  all,  forty-nine  units.  For  1918  the  rank  is  with  reference  to 
the  forty-eight  States.  It  will  be  seen  that  Alabama,  Arkansas, 
Florida,  Mississippi,  North  Carolina,  Texas,  and  Virginia  lost 
ground,  that  Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  and  Tennessee  held  their 
own,  and  that  Georgia  was  the  only  State  in  the  South  to  gain, 
during  the  decade  from  1890  to  1900. 

The  average  length  of  school  term  for  the  United  States  in  1917- 
1918  was  161  days,  while  the  average  for  the  South  was  131  days. 
Of  the  Southern  States  Texas  had  the  longest  term,  with  146  days, 

1Ayres,  An  Index  Number  for  State  School  Systems.  Russell  Sage  Foun- 
dation, New  York,  1920. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM 


439 


and  South  Carolina  the  shortest,  with  113  days.  In  that  year  a 
little  more  than  2  5  per  cent  of  the  school  term  of  the  United  States 
was  wasted  as  a  result  of  nonattendance.  The  waste  of  the  school 
term  in  the  Southern  States  was  slightly  above  33  per  cent.  The 
expenditures  for  public-school  education  in  the  South  that  year 
amounted  to  about  $86,000,000,  but  one  third  of  that  amount  was 
spent  for  the  maintenance  of  schools  which  the  children  did  not 
attend.  In  this  fact  is  proof  of  the  need  for  more  adequate  child- 
labor  and  compulsory-attendance  laws  in  the  Southern  States. 


1890 

1900 

1910 

1918 

Alabama     

44th 

48th 

45th 

4<Uh 

Arkansas    

42d 

4<Uh 

46th 

46th 

Florida  

2gth 

4oth 

42d 

•57th 

Georgia      

46th 

4.4th 

44th 

Aid 

Louisiana  

Aid 

Aid 

iQth 

42d 

Mississippi     

IQth 

46th 

47th 

47th 

North  Carolina  

4  Hth 

4Qth 

48th 

44th 

South  Carolina  

47th 

47th 

4Qth 

48th 

Tennessee     

4ist 

4ist 

Aid 

4<Dth 

Texas     

36th 

38th 

17th 

l6th 

Virginia      

l8th 

42d 

4  ist 

47d 

Although  the  South  since  1900  has  paid  increasing  attention  to 
secondary  education,  the  development  of  rural  high  schools  has 
not  kept  pace  with  the  growth  and  improvement  of  high  schools 
in  the  urban  communities ;  and  in  many  counties  throughout  the 
South  not  a  single  standard  public  four-year  high  school  has  yet 
been  established.  The  striking  inequality  in  secondary  educational 
opportunity  offered  in  other  sections  and  in  the  South  appears  in 
the  fact  that  the  average  number  of  the  school  population  enrolled 
in  high  schools  in  the  United  States  in  1917-1918  was  9.3  per 
cent,  while  the  average  for  the  Southern  States  was  only  5.1  per 
cent.  Of  the  Southern  States  Texas  showed  the  largest  number  of 
the  school  population  in  high  schools,  with  9.6  per  cent,  and  South 
Carolina  showed  the  smallest,  with  2.2  per  cent. 


440  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

The  condition  of  teachers'  salaries  throughout  the  country  has 
greatly  improved  during  the  past  few  years.  In  some  of  the 
Southern  States  the  increases  have  been  very  substantial,  but 
the  average  annual  salary  paid  public  elementary  and  secondary 
school-teachers  in  the  South  is  only  three  fifths  of  the  average  for 
the  United  States.  This  is  one  reason,  though  not  always  the 
principal  one,  why  the  schoolroom  does  not  attract  the  most 
capable  and  promising  young  people. 

Certain  other  facts  concerning  public  education  in  the  South 
have  significance.  Careful  estimates  show  that  more  than  15  per 
cent  of  the  rural  and  small-village  teachers  in  these  States  have  had 
only  an  elementary-school  training.  Ten  per  cent  have  had  only  one 
year,  about  18  per  cent  have  had  two  years,  19  per  cent  three  years, 
and  40  per  cent  four  years  in  high  schools.  Less  than  5  per  cent 
have  had  college  training,  and  more  than  60  per  cent  have  had  no 
definite  professional  training.  Twenty-five  per  cent  are  teaching 
for  the  first  time,  and  less  than  8  per  cent  have  had  as  much  as 
eight  years'  experience.  Fully  2  5  per  cent  intend  to  quit  the  school- 
room after  temporary  service,  largely  because  of  insanitary  teach- 
ing and  living  conditions,  loneliness  and  the  lack  of  wholesome 
social  interests  in  isolated  communities,  low  salaries,  and  the  dis- 
covery of  their  unfitness  to  teach.  It  is  a  significant  fact  also  that 
male  teachers  are  constantly  decreasing  in  the  elementary  schools, 
in  some  sections  almost  to  the  point  of  disappearance.  Under 
these  conditions  evils  are  inevitable.  Effective  instruction  of  the 
children  is  impossible,  proper  grading  of  the  schools  cannot  be 
made,  the  usefulness  of  the  teacher  in  the  school  and  community  is 
limited,  no  chance  is  afforded  for  the  development  of  the  pro- 
fessional spirit  of  the  teacher,  certificating  standards  are  kept  low, 
and  education  generally  is  held  in  low  esteem  by  the  public. 
Moreover,  the  work  of  normal  schools  is  regarded  with  indifference 
— in  many  instances  actually  wasted — when  their  energies  are 
expended  on  teachers  who  have  such  brief  and  uncertain  tenure. 

In  the  South,  as  elsewhere  in  this  country,  there  has  never 
been  an  adequate  supply  of  adequately  trained  teachers,  but  the 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  441 

problem  of  meeting  this  condition  now  is  particularly  difficult.  The 
poor  pay  of  teachers  helps  to  give  them  an  indifferent  social  status 
in  the  community.  Moreover,  the  examination  and  certification 
practices  in  most  of  the  Southern  States  still  serve  to  admit  to  the 
profession  a  great  many  immature  and  poorly  trained  teachers  who 
help  to  keep  out  many  of  the  more  capable  ones.  Public-school 
teaching  in  the  South  has  not  yet  been  stabilized  and  professional- 
ized, and  the  supply  of  creditable  normal  schools  and  teacher- 
training  agencies  is  so  inadequate  that  the  annual  supply  of 
properly  trained  teachers  meets  only  a  small  part  of  the  demand. 
An  increase  in  normal  schools,  departments  and  schools  of  educa- 
tion in  colleges  and  universities,  and  teacher-training  classes  in 
high  schools  is,  therefore,  greatly  needed  if  public  education  in 
the  South  is  to  develop  properly.  Without  a  sufficient  number  of 
these  agencies  no  State  can  expect  to  secure  and  retain  any  large 
number  of  well-trained  teachers.  But  any  number  of  such  agencies 
will  not  produce  the  class  of  teachers  that  is  needed  unless,  by  im- 
proved living  conditions,  larger  salaries,  and  increased  professional 
requirements,  the  opportunities  offered  in  teaching,  especially  in 
the  rural  schools,  are  equal  to  or  approach  the  opportunities  found 
in  other  occupations. 

Certain  conditions  help  to  explain  the  South's  present  low  edu- 
cational position  among  the  other  States.  The  Southern  States, 
with  limited  funds,  have  had  to  provide  two  systems  of  education 
for  large  numbers  of  children  scattered  over  wide  areas.  They 
have  relatively  greater  numbers  of  children  to  educate  than  other 
sections  of  the  country ;  in  each  of  them  the  number  of  school  chil- 
dren exceeds  the  number  of  adult  males,  on  whom  rest  the  burdens 
of  supporting  the  public  schools.  For  every  thousand  adult  males 
in  these  eleven  States  there  are  1279  children  of  school  age  for 
whom  public  education  must  be  provided.  Georgia  must  provide 
for  1343,  Alabama  for  1323,  Mississippi  for  1370,  North  Carolina 
for  1401,  and  South  Carolina,  which  is  the  most  prolific  State  in 
the  Union,  for  1510  children  for  each  thousand  adult  males.  In 
eleven  representative  Northern  States  the  corresponding  average  is 


442  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

789  children,  and  in  a  similar  number  of  typical  Western  States 
the  average  is  about  600  children  for  each  thousand  male  adults.1 

Moreover,  property  values  in  the  Southern  States  are  less  per 
capita  than  elsewhere  in  the  Union.  The  estimated  average  true 
value  of  all  property  for  each  child  of  school  age  in  the  South  is 
approximately  one  third  that  of  the  Northern  States  and  one 
fourth  that  of  the  Western  States.  Added  to  these  difficulties  is 
the  disadvantage  of  the  sparsity  of  population  in  the  South.  This 
condition  developed  from  the  predominating  industry  of  agricul- 
ture, which  has  never  been  of  the  intensive  type.  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee,  and  Virginia  are  the  only  Southern  States  with  an 
average  of  more  than  ten  white  children  of  school  age  to  the  square 
mile.  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  South  Carolina  show  an  average  of 
between  eight  and  nine,  Arkansas  and  Mississippi  between  six  and 
eight,  Texas  less  than  five,  and  Florida  only  three  children  to  the 
square  mile  of  territory.  No  Southern  State  has  an  average  of  ten 
colored  school  children  to  the  square  mile ;  the  largest  number  are 
found  in  South  Carolina  and  the  smallest  in  Texas.  And  through- 
out the  South  the  policy  of  separate  schools  for  the  children  of  the 
two  races  is  accepted  as  permanent.  In  some  of  the  Northern 
States  the  average  density  of  school  population  is  from  three  to 
ten  times  greater  than  that  of  the  South,  and  the  average  for  the 
eleven  representative  Northern  States,  which  generally  maintain 
only  one  system  of  schools  for  all  children,  is  about  three  times 
that  of  the  Southern  States.  In  the  Western  States  the  school 
population  is  small,  but  the  population  is  largely  concentrated  in 
the  irrigated  regions,  river  valleys,  and  mining  towns  and  is  not  so 
widely  distributed  as  in  the  South.  The  meaning  of  this  com- 
parison for  the  adequate  and  effective  organization,  supervision, 
and  support  of  schools  in  the  South  is  too  obvious  to  require 
comment. 

The  administrative  organization  of  public  education  in  the 
South  is  similar  in  the  main  to  that  found  in  other  sections  of 

1The  school  age  here  used  is  from  five  to  eighteen  years.  See  School  Life 
for  July  i,  1920. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  443 

the  country.  For  some  time  there  has  been  a  distinct  tendency 
throughout  the  United  States  to  make  improvements  in  the  com- 
position of  state  boards  of  education  by  replacing  ex-officio  boards, 
or  boards  made  up  of  other  state  officers,  with  members  selected 
from  the  people.  But  this  tendency  has  not  made  much  progress 
in  the  South.  Of  the  nine  States  in  the  Union  which  still  retain 
the  ex-officio  state  boards  of  education  four  are  Southern  States, — 
Texas,  Florida,  Mississippi,  and  North  Carolina, — and  appoin- 
tive members  of  such  boards  predominate  in  Alabama,  Arkansas, 
Georgia,  Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia.  Each 
of  the  States  of  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  North  Carolina  has,  in 
addition  to  the  general  state  board  of  education,  a  special  board 
for  administering  vocational  education.  All  the  Southern  States 
except  Tennessee  continue  to  elect  their  superintendents  of  schools 
by  popular  vote  for  terms  of  from  two  to  four  years.  In  Tennessee 
that  officer  is  appointed  by  the  governor  for  two  years.  In  com- 
parison with  the  salaries  paid  in  many  other  States,  the  annual 
salaries  of  the  state  superintendents  in  the  South  are  very  low.1 
In  seven  of  these  States  county  boards  of  education  are  elected 
by  popular  vote.  In  Georgia  such  boards  are  elected  by  the  county 
grand  juries  and  in  South  Carolina  by  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion. In  Mississippi  the  county  board  is  chosen  by  the  county 
superintendent,  who  is  its  chairman.  In  Virginia  the  county  super- 
intendent, the  county  judge,  and  the  commonwealth  attorney  form 
a  trustee  electoral  board  which  selects  three  trustees  for  each  school 
district  in  the  county,  and  these  trustees  and  the  superintendent 
form  the  county  school  board.  County  superintendents  of  schools 
are  elected  by  popular  vote  in  Texas,  Florida,  Mississippi,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia  and  are  appointed  by  the  county  boards  in 
North  Carolina,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  and  Alabama,  by  the  county 
courts  (fiscal  bodies)  in  Tennessee,  and  by  the  state  board  of  edu- 
cation in  Virginia.  The  term  of  the  county  superintendents  in 
most  of  the  Southern  States  is  from  two  or  four  years.  In  theory  the 

1  South  Carolina  pays  $2400,  Arkansas  $2500,  Alabama  $3000,  and  the 
other  States  from  $3600  to  $5000. 


444  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

county  is  the  unit  of  local  school  administration,  somewhat  strong 
and  effective  in  some  States  and  weak  in  others ;  in  actual  prac- 
tice, however,  the  district  is  still  the  local  unit  and  is  left  with 
certain  functions,  though  there  is  a  hopeful  tendency  toward  the 
adoption  of  the  county  as  the  logical  and  most  effective  unit  for 
the  direction  and  support  of  public  schools. 

During  the  past  decade  the  financial  support  of  public  education 
has  largely  increased,  and  at  the  present  time  there  is  a  marked 
tendency  to  advance  tax  rates  for  school  purposes  and  to  shift 
the  burden  from  the  smaller,  weaker  units  to  the  larger  unit  of  the 
county  or  the  State.  This  tendency  reveals  the  conscious  effort  to 
make  educational  opportunity  more  nearly  equal  for  all  the 
children.  To  this  end  school  laws  have  been  amended  in  almost 
every  Southern  State  during  the  past  two  or  three  years,  state 
constitutions  have  been  revised,  legislative  appropriations  have 
been  more  generous,  and  more  liberal  taxation  provisions  have 
been  allowed  county  and  district  units.  In  these  actions  is  found 
the  recognition  of  the  inability  of  the  weak  communities  to  make 
proper  provision  for  schools  unless  aided  by  stronger  units,  and 
another  step  is  thus  taken  toward  acceptance  of  the  principle 
that  the  burden  of  public  education  must  be  largely  taken  by  the 
State  as  a  whole.  Of  significance  in  this  connection  is  the  in- 
telligent manner  in  which  certain  of  the  States  have  recently 
approached  these  administrative  problems  by  the  creation  of 
expert  commissions  to  study  and  report  on  educational  conditions. 
Among  such  States  are  Alabama,  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Virginia. 

With  the  enactment  of  a  compulsory-attendance  law  in  Mis- 
sissippi in  1918  the  last  of  the  Southern  States  became  committed 
to  the  policy  of  requiring  children  between  certain  ages  to  attend 
school  for  all  or  some  part  of  the  school  term.  The  compulsory- 
attendance  movement  began  in  the  South  in  1905  with  the  passage 
of  initial  legislation  on  the  subject  in  Tennessee;  continued  with 
North  Carolina  in  1907,  Virginia  in  1908,  Arkansas  in  1909, 
Louisiana  in  1910,  South  Carolina,  Texas,  Florida,  and  Alabama 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  445 


in  1915,  Georgia  in  1916;  and  ended  with  Mississippi  in 
Revisions,  extensions,  and  improvements  have  been  made  in  some 
of  the  States  since  the  introductory  enactments.  Now  the  prin- 
cipal problem  of  attendance  legislation  is  that  of  further  exten- 
sion and  wider  application  so  as  to  make  such  laws  more  effective 
by  securing  the  support  of  public  favor. 

From  the  facts  presented  elsewhere  in  this  chapter  concerning 
nonattendance  of  school  children  in  the  South  it  is  evident  that 
compulsory-attendance  laws  are  not  only  very  defective  but  that 
they  have  not  yet  secured  —  perhaps  largely  because  of  their 
defects  —  the  full  force  of  public  approval  which  is  needed  for 
their  complete  success.  For  example,  the  recently  enacted  law 
of  Mississippi  is  applicable  in  a  county  or  district  only  after  it 
has  been  approved  by  the  qualified  voters  therein,  and  then  at- 
tendance for  only  sixty  days  a  year  is  required  of  children  between 
the  ages  of  seven  and  fourteen.  In  1918  Florida,  Mississippi, 
and  South  Carolina  were  the  only  three  States  in  the  Union 
which  did  not  have  state-wide  compulsory  school  laws. 

All  the  Southern  States  have  some  form  of  child-labor  legisla- 
tion, theoretically  in  close  relation  to  the  compulsory-attendance 
laws,  but  in  many  of  the  States  reform  is  needed  here  also.  A 
few  of  the  States  have  made  small  beginnings  in  legislation 
and  practices  designed  to  safeguard  and  protect  dependent  and 
delinquent  children.  In  most  of  the  States,  however,  only  the 
beginnings  of  this  important  work  have  been  made.  The  most 
advanced  and  complete  plan  to  be  found,  not  only  in  the  South 
but  in  the  country  at  large,  is  that  set  up  by  legislation  in 
North  Carolina  in  1919.  This  is  the  county-unit  plan,  which  pro- 
vides for  county  boards  of  public  welfare  and  a  juvenile  court  in 
every  county  with  jurisdiction  over  all  delinquent,  neglected,  and 

1The  first  compulsory  school  law,  as  used  in  this  connection,  was  enacted 
in  Massachusetts  in  1852,  and  the  movement  extended  over  a  period  of  sixty- 
six  years  before  the  forty-eight  States  were  included  in  it.  The  Southern 
States  were  the  last  to  act.  See  page  10  of  Bulletin  No.  2  (1914),  and  page  26 
of  Bulletin  No.  13  (1919),  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 


446  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

dependent  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  requires  the 
appointment  of  a  paid  superintendent  of  public  welfare  in  every 
county  to  serve  as  chief  county  school-attendance  officer  and  pro- 
bation officer.  The  operation  of  this  system  has  already  attracted 
wide  attention  for  its  intelligent  attempts  to  coordinate  and  direct 
all  public  agencies  which  pertain  to  the  general  social  welfare  of 
the  people. 

Important  results  of  compulsory,  child-labor,  and  public-welfare 
laws  are  the  new  burdens  which  they  place  on  the  school  and  the 
change  in  the  attitude  of  the  public  and  the  school  toward  truants, 
incorrigibles,  defectives,  dependents,  and  delinquents.  These  were 
formerly  neglected  or  dismissed.  Now  attempts  are  made  to  cor- 
rect, protect,  improve,  and  train  them  as  far  as  possible  for  per- 
sonal and  social  usefulness.  But  these  increased  burdens  on  the 
school  carry  with  them  enlarged  opportunities  which  the  school 
of  a  few  years  ago  never  had. 

The  administration  of  the  Selective  Service  Act  during  the  war 
served  to  draw  sharp  attention  to  our  public  educational  weak- 
nesses and  defects.  Thousands  of  men  were  found  to  be  so  phys- 
ically defective  as  to  be  unfit  for  military  service.  Of  the  2,510,726 
Americans  examined  in  the  first  draft,  the  surgeons  rejected 
730,756  on  account  of  physical  disability.  Many  of  the  dis- 
qualifying defects  of  those  rejected  could  have  been  prevented  or 
cured  by  proper  school  instruction  in  sanitation  and  hygiene  and 
by  provision  for  healthful  school  conditions.  Illiteracy  was  found 
to  be  very  extensive  also,  and  the  lack  of  intelligent  and  specific 
training  for  citizenship  through  the  public-school  system  was  also 
revealed.  But  out  of  these  revelations  came  wholesome  influences 
for  and  fresh  interest  in  new  conceptions  of  education.  Before  the 
close  of  the  war  a  strong  impetus  was  given  to  physical  training  as 
a  part  of  the  program  of  preparedness,  and  the  need  for  physical 
and  health  education  and  for  instruction  in  hygiene  and  sanitation 
found  ready  recognition  among  school  and  governing  authorities 
and  the  public  generally. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM 


447 


General  health  regulations  and  the  physical  examination  of 
school  children,  which  had  begun  in  Texas  in  1890,  had  been  pro- 
vided for  in  some  form  in  most  of  the  States  before  the  recent  war, 
but  during  the  past  few  years  there  has  been  a  marked  tendency 
to  extend  such  provisions  in  an  effort  to  protect  the  health  of  the 
child  and  the  community.  The  movement  continues  to  gain;  it 
now  includes  the  examination  and  medical  inspection  of  children 
for  physical  defects,  provision  for  their  correction  by  free  or  inex- 
pensive treatment  under  expert  supervision,  and  provisions  for 
detecting  and  preventing  the  spread  of  communicable  diseases, 
for  the  employment  of  school  and  community  nurses,  for  the 
regulation  of  schoolhouse  construction,  and  for  the  use  of  sanitary 
drinking  cups  and  the  improvement  of  school  conditions  generally.1 

Renewed  efforts  are  being  made — largely  as  a  result  of  the 
war — to  eliminate  illiteracy,  with  which  the  South  has  been  and 
still  is  shamefully  burdened,  and  to  provide  more  adequate  and 
intelligent  instruction  and  training  in  the  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties of  citizenship.  Agencies  for  stamping  out  illiteracy  are  found 
in  the  "moonlight  schools"  and  in  the  work  of  "illiteracy  com- 
missions" and  of  community  schools  for  adult  illiterates.  Special 
attention  has  recently  been  given  to  the  problem  of  illiteracy  by 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Arkansas.  Laws 
designed  to  promote  citizenship  instruction  have  been  enacted  or 
extended,  and  the  indications  are  that  this  problem  is  to  receive 
more  attention  in  the  future.  The  energy  of  the  elementary  school 
is,  of  course,  still  very  properly  devoted  in  large  measure  to  instruc- 
tion in  certain  traditional  but  fundamental  processes  in  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic  and  to  history  and  geography.  Other 

1  Recent  investigations  show  that  52  per  cent  of  the  children  in  typical 
rural  schools  give  evidence  of  malnutrition,  while  less  than  3  per  cent  of 
city  school  children  so  suffer.  More  than  57  per  cent  of  the  children  in  rural 
schools  have  defective  eyes  and  51  per  cent  are  subject  to  anaemia,  while 
the  statistics  for  the  children  in  city  schools  are  5  per  cent  and  20  per 
cent  respectively. 


448  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

subjects  have  gradually  found  nominal  places  in  the  curriculum, 
but  they  have  not  received  proper  recognition  promptly,  and  in 
some  cases  instruction  in  them  has  often  been  perfunctory  rather 
than  real.  The  tendency  now,  however,  appears  to  be  toward  the 
recognition  of  new  and  more  rational  objectives  of  public-school 
education,  so  that  not  only  may  proficiency  in  the  so-called  funda- 
mentals be  increased  by  application  to  new  materials  and  real 
situations  but  sane  and  worthy  attitudes  toward  wide  social  inter- 
ests and  personal  and  civic  duties  and  privileges  may  be  developed 
in  the  pupils.1 

The  ready  acceptance  by  the  Southern  States  of  the  appropria- 
tions under  the  Smith-Lever  Act  of  1914  for  the  maintenance  of  ex- 
tension work  (especially  in  agriculture  and  home  economics)  and 
of  appropriations  under  the  Smith-Hughes  Act  of  1917  for  Federal 
aid  to  vocational  education  is  significant  as  a  part  of  the  movement 
to  correlate  public  education  with  the  industrial  life  of  the  people.2 
Under  the  latter  legislation  funds  are  appropriated  by  the  Federal 
Government  for  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  the  various  States 
in  providing  suitable  instruction  in  agricultural,  trade,  home- 
economics,  and  industrial  subjects  and  in  the  preparation  of 
teachers  of  such  vocational  subjects.  The  funds  for  promoting 
agricultural  instruction  are  apportioned  to  the  States  in  the  propor- 

1  Textbooks  for  use  in  the  elementary  schools  are  generally  selected  in 
each  of  the  Southern  States  by  a  state  textbook  commission  or  by  the  state 
board  of  education  serving  in  that  capacity.   Textbook  legislation  of  recent 
years  presents  no  especially  distinctive  or  progressive  features,  but  the  de- 
velopment has  been  from  county  to  state  uniformity  in  most  of  the  States, 
and  uniform  state  adoption  for  various  periods  now  prevails.   The  policy  of 
free  textbooks  has  not  been  adopted,  though  it  has  been  for  some  time  a 
subject  of  legislative  consideration  in  many  of  the  States. 

2  Corn  clubs  among  the  boys  began  in  Mississippi  in  1907  and  tomata 
clubs  among  the  girls  began  in  South  Carolina  in  1910,  and  in  a  few  years 
these  activities  had  gathered  wide  interest  in  all  the  Southern  States.   Such 
clubs  still  serve  important  educational  and  economic  purposes,  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  boys  and  girls  are   enrolled  in  them.   Manual  training  has 
also  gained  recognition  in  the  schools  of  the  cities  since  1900  and  is  now 
finding  a  place  in  the  larger  consolidated  rural  schools. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  449 

tion  which  the  number  of  their  respective  rural  inhabitants  bears 
to  the  total  number  of  rural  inhabitants  in  the  United  States ;  and 
for  instruction  in  trade,  home-economics,  and  industrial  subjects 
the  funds  are  apportioned  to  the  States  in  the  proportion  which  the 
number  of  their  urban  population  bears  to  the  urban  population 
of  the  United  States.  In  order  to  receive  the  benefits  of  the  funds 
each  State  was  required  to  accept  the  provisions  of  and  adopt  plans 
acceptable  to  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education  and  to 
cooperate  with  the  Board.  The  requirement  was  also  made  that 
each  State,  or  local  authorities  therein,  or  both,  expend  for  these 
purposes  an  amount  equal  to  that  expended  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. This  Act,  which  apportioned  more  than  half  a  million 
dollars  to  the  Southern  States  in  1918,  has  met  with  wide  favor 
and  promises  to  help  develop  a  strong  system  of  vocational 
education.1 

Other  hopeful  signs  of  educational  progress  appear  in  the 
tendency  to  improve  the  status  of  the  public-school  teacher.  In 
most  of  the  States  effort  is  being  made  to  raise  and  standardize  the 
requirements  of  the  qualifications  to  teach  and  to  make  provision 
for  the  teachers  to  meet  such  requirements  by  enlarging  training 
facilities  through  more  definite  instruction  in  normal  schools,  in- 
stitutes, and  summer  normals,  reading-circle  work,2  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  teacher-training  classes  in  standard  high  schools.  The 
tendency  is  toward  state  rather  than  county  certification  of  teach- 
ers, toward  the  issuance  of  several  special  certificates,  and  toward 
accrediting  approved  university  and  college  diplomas  and  accepting 
credentials  of  teachers  from  other  States.  The  increased  difficulty 

1  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education, 
1918.   The  sums  appropriated  by  the  Act  increase  each  year  until   1925- 
1926.   In  that  year  the  total  national  aid  for  the  purposes  mentioned  above 
will  amount  to  more  than  seven  millions  a  year,  and  this  sum  will  be  an- 
nually appropriated  among  the  various  States  of  the  Union. 

2  Reading-circle  work  in  many  of  the  States  is  poorly  planned  and  poorly 
directed  and  is  at  best  haphazard  and  colorless,  tolerated  by  teacher  and 
local   administrator   alike.    Its   possibilities   have   not   been   fully    realized 
generally. 


450  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

of  finding  suitable  living-quarters  for  teachers  (especially  in  the 
rural  communities)  has  served  to  stimulate  the  movement  for 
teachers'  "cottages,"  teachers'  "homes,"  or  "teacherages,"  in 
connection  with  the  schoolhouses.  Incidentally  this  problem  of 
living-conditions  for  teachers  has  had  effect  on  the  consolidation 
movement,  which  is  gaining  in  the  South.  Slight  beginnings  have 
been  made  in  providing  pensions  for  teachers  in  Virginia  and 
Tennessee  and  in  certain  cities,  among  which  are  Charleston, 
Mobile,  New  Orleans,  and  Raleigh,  but  the  movement  has  not  yet 
attracted  wide  attention  in  the  South. 

To  furnish  the  type  of  education  now  needed  in  the  South  certain 
fundamental  reorganizations  seem  imperative.  The  conception  of 
the  place  and  importance  of  education  needs  to  be  enlarged  through 
a  new  emphasis  on  educational  leadership  and  expert  direction  in 
all  parts  of  the  public-school  system — in  organization,  administra- 
tion, support,  instruction,  and  supervision.  If  public  education  is 
to  be  as  adequate  and  safe  as  the  conditions  now  require,  there 
needs  to  be  applied  throughout  an  improved  type  of  intelligent 
direction  and  control — expert  and  professional  skill  and  business 
ability ;  otherwise  the  State  can  never  be  fully  active  and  effective 
in  promoting  the  moral  and  intellectual  welfare  of  its  people. 

It  is  apparent  that  in  most  of  the  Southern  States  changes  need 
to  be  made  in  the  composition  of  the  state  board  of  educational 
control.  At  present  such  boards  are  composed  of  state  officers,  who 
are  elected  for  other  purposes  and  are  not  expected  to  have  any 
special  knowledge  of  or  interest  in  public  schools,  or  they  consist 
of  appointed  members  with  only  nominal  power  of  direction.  In- 
stead of  the  constitutional  board  composed  of  state  officers,  or  the 
appointive  board  with  nominal  functions,  the  need  is  for  a  small 
board  of  representative  men  and  women  who  are  recognized  for 
their  sane  and  progressive  attitudes  toward  and  their  demonstrated 
ability  to  promote  public  educational  work. 

Another  point  of  weakness  generally  found  in  the  South  is  the 
method  of  selecting  the  state  superintendent  of  public  schools  (see 
page  443).  The  importance  of  this  officer  is  now  both  potentially 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  451 

and  actually  so  great  as  to  require  the  highest  type  of  leadership 
available.  The  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of  the  State 
now  has  many  more  important  and  far-reaching  functions  than 
ever  before.  The  need  is  not  for  a  clerk,  a  statistician,  a  politician, 
or  a  professor  and  lecturer  at  large,  but  rather  for  a  guardian, 
trustee,  and  director  of  all  the  public  educational  interests  of  the 
commonwealth.  He  is  the  director-general  of  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual well-being  of  the  whole  people.  He  is  the  State's  educa- 
tional entrepreneur,  and  his  functions  are  to  initiate,  establish,  and 
maintain  progressive  and  effective  relations  among  the  State's 
multiform  educational  agencies.  He  must  now  promote  improve- 
ment through  initiating  and  cooperating  in  the  enactment  of  wise 
and  forward-looking  legislation  on  organization,  courses  of  study, 
textbooks,  school  finances,  administration,  supervision,  attend- 
ance, school-library  extension,  child-welfare  work,  building  pro- 
grams, the  training,  certification,  and  pensioning  of  teachers,  and 
a  host  of  other  vital  matters. 

These  duties  demand  a  high  order  of  business  and  executive 
ability  as  well  as  professional  skill.  For  that  reason  the  state 
superintendent  of  public  schools  should  be  a  recognized  leader  in 
educational  work,  with  a  keen  sense  of  duty,  broad  scholarship,  a 
large  vision  of  the  educational  and  social  needs  of  the  State  he  is 
serving,  and  with  an  unselfishness  that  approaches  the  apostolic. 
No  other  officer  of  the  average  American  state  has  so  strategic  a 
place  for  moral  and  social  leadership  as  the  superintendent  of 
schools. 

It  is  an  established  principle  in  political  science  that  expert  and 
skilled  leaders  cannot  be  selected  by  popular  election.  If  the  state 
superintendent  of  public  schools  is  to  become  a  real  educational 
leader  in  fact,  the  method  of  selecting  him  must  be  changed  from 
that  of  popular  election  to  appointment  by  governing  authority  or 
by  a  responsible  and  intelligent  board  of  educational  control.  The 
task  of  the  superintendency  requires  a  training  and  a  skill  in  edu- 
cational administration  and  other  high  abilities  which  are  rarely 
ever  at  home  with  those  qualities  which  so  often  commend  men  to 


452  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  political  leaders  and  bosses  or  managers  of  political  parties. 
This  important  officer  should  therefore  be  selected  for  his  pro- 
fessional training  and  skill,  and  the  choice  should  not  be  limited 
to  the  narrow  bounds  of  the  State,  as  is  necessary  when  the 
selection  is  by  popular  vote.  The  financial  reward  should  be 
large  enough  and  the  tenure  of  office  secure  enough  to  attract  the 
highest  talent  available  anywhere. 

It  seems  desirable  also  that  there  should  be  a  larger  unit  of  local 
administration  than  that  which  now  exists  in  actual  practice.  For 
purposes  of  local  business  administration  the  Southern  States  are 
subdivided  into  counties,1  which  are  also  natural  units  for  the 
successful  administration  of  public  education.  In  theory  at  least 
the  county  is  the  educational  unit  now  generally  used  in  the 
South,  but  in  actual  practice  the  usual  form  of  organization  and 
administration  is  the  local  district,  under  the  control  of  a  local 
board  of  trustees  and  therefore  loosely  knit  together  in  the  county 
organization.  The  local  boards  ordinarily  carry  on  their  work  with 
no  concern  or  interest  beyond  their  own  districts  and  with  little 
unity  of  purpose  or  conception  of  broad  educational  policies.  For 
these  reasons  the  schools,  especially  the  rural  schools,  often  suffer 
from  ineffective  teachers,  poor  equipment,  and  an  almost  total  lack 
of  progressive,  helpful  supervision. 

As  pointed  out  above,  the  district  system  is  that  generally  em- 
ployed in  rural  educational  administration  in  the  South,  and  the 
district  units  rather  than  the  county  units  usually  direct  public- 
school  affairs.  Under  this  practice  a  uniform  system  of  schools 
can  never  be  made  to  extend  over  the  entire  county.  The  organ- 
ization is  largely  by  locality,  which  can  never  be  made  entire,  but 
must  remain  one-sided  in  its  development.  Moreover,  the  cost  of 
such  a  system  is  necessarily  excessive  and  wasteful  and  otherwise 
pernicious  and  antiquated.  The  local  district  system  needs  to  be 
replaced  by  the  county  as  the  unit  of  organization,  support,  ad- 
ministration, and  supervision;  and  through  this  larger  unit  of 
support  and  control  all  public  elementary  and  secondary  schools 
1In  Louisiana  the  parish  corresponds  to  the  county  in  other  States. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  453 

and  all  other  educational  agencies  of  the  county  should  be  con- 
solidated and  coordinated  into  one  system  with  sound  financial 
support  and  expert  business  and  professional  direction.  Then  and 
then  only  will  the  rural  child  of  the  South  enjoy  the  educational 
opportunities  now  afforded  the  child  of  the  town  and  city. 

In  addition  there  appears  an  urgent  need  for  the  development  of 
a  new  type  of  county  board  of  educational  control.  The  relation 
of  the  county  board  to  the  county  superintendent  is  similar  to 
that  of  the  state  board  to  the  state  superintendent.  Properly 
conceived  its  functions  and  responsibilities  are  numerous  and 
heavy,  and  on  the  proper  discharge  of  them  depends  very  largely 
the  success  of  the  school  work  which  the  board  is  called  on  to 
direct.  To  be  really  effective  and  useful  in  assisting  the  county 
superintendent  in  carrying  out  progressive  educational  policies  the 
county  board  should  have  powers  and  duties  not  unlike  those  of 
a  city  school  board.  The  members  should  be  chosen  from  the 
citizens  at  large  and  for  reasonably  long  terms.  They  should  be 
selected  for  their  recognized  ability  to  direct  the  large  enterprise 
of  a  county's  school  work  and  for  their  evident  belief  and  interest 
in  public  educational  progress  rather  than  for  political  reasons. 

A  new  conception  of  the  office  of  county  superintendent  of 
schools  is  also  needed  in  the  South.  It  cannot  be  emphasized 
too  often  nor  too  strongly  that  this  officer  is  strategically  the  most 
important  in  all  public  educational  activities  of  the  county.  He 
should  be  a  well-trained  educational  expert  and  executive,  and 
chosen  for  professional  and  administrative  fitness  rather  than  for 
political  purposes.  The  importance  of  this  executive  requires  ap- 
pointment by  a  responsible  and  progressive  board  of  control  who 
is  interested  more  in  the  educational  advancement  of  the  county 
than  in  partisan  politics.  Popular  elections  have  no  proper  place 
in  filling  such  an  office.  The  functions  of  the  office  are  executive 
and  professional  in  character  and  require  a  high  degree  of  skill 
acquired  by  special  training  or  long  experience,  and  choice  of  a 
superintendent  should  not  be  limited  to  the  county  or  even  to  the 
State.  Boards  of  educational  control  should  have  freedom  to  seek 


454  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

anywhere  for  leadership  and  competency,  otherwise  the  county 
superintendent  must  continue  to  be  regarded  as  the  political 
officer  or  clerk  which  tradition  has  made  of  him  rather  than  the 
real  professional  leader  which  the  conditions  now  so  urgently 
require.1 

The  need  for  closer  and  more  effective  supervision  of  rural- 
school  work  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  keenly  felt  in  the 
South.  Educational  leaders  are  coming  to  see  that  one  large  secret 
of  better  educational  facilities  in  the  towns  and  cities  is  due  to 
more  expert  supervision  of  the  urban  schools.  The  compactness 
of  their  organization  aids  coordination  and  direction  and  lends 
itself  to  a  more  wholesome  cooperation  of  teachers,  school  officials, 
and  the  public  generally.  In  the  nature  of  the  case  the  rural-school 
teacher  suffers  from  a  lack  of  frequent  personal  contact  with  other 
teachers  and  is  thus  denied  the  stimulation  and  professional  en- 
thusiasm that  comes  from  sympathetic  supervision  and  assistance. 
A  new  form  of  supervision  for  the  rural  school  is  therefore  urgently 
needed  and  must  be  created  and  maintained  if  there  is  to  be 
secured  for  the  children  of  the  country  the  educational  advantages 
to  which  they  are  entitled.  It  is  encouraging  to  see  that  the 
tendency  in  many  of  the  Southern  States  is  toward  a  more  rational 
reorganization  and  improvement  in  supervisory  direction  which 
promises  to  help  put  the  rural-school  system  on  the  same  basis 
with  the  better-organized  systems  of  the  towns  and  cities. 

One  of  the  most  confusing  problems  now  facing  the  South  is 
that  of  the  proper  education  of  the  negro.  It  is  a  problem  which 
calls  for  intelligent  and  sympathetic  attention.  After  nearly  two 
and  a  half  centuries  of  slavery  the  negro  was  suddenly  and  with- 
out any  preparation  charged  with  the  solemn  obligations  and  priv- 
ileges of  citizenship.  Since  that  time  the  problem  of  his  education 
has  been  big  and  immediate,  but  effort  at  the  solution  has  been 
earnest  and  often  energetic.  But  after  nearly  sixty  years  its 

1  In  many  States  the  qualifications  of  the  county  superintendent  of  schook 
are  nominal  only  and  at  best  very  low,  and  in  some  States  the  system  of 
selection  limits  the  choice  to  the  county. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  455 

perplexities  persist  and  the  answer  has  admittedly  not  yet  been 
found.  Now  the  task  of  educating  several  million  negroes  in  the 
South  appears  to  be  larger  than  that  of  giving  them  formal  school- 
room instruction  or  of  teaching  them  to  read,  to  write,  and  to 
cipher.  It  is,  of  course,  a  task  which  requires  provisions  of  adequate 
facilities  for  such  instruction,  but  it  also  calls  for  instruction  and 
training  by  which  they  can  more  readily  and  safely  adjust  them- 
selves to  the  environment  in  which  they  live  and  by  which  there 
can  be  awakened  and  sustained  in  them  a  keen  sense  of  their  re- 
sponsibilities to  the  community  and  the  State.  Only  by  this  means 
also  can  there  be  developed  among  their  white  neighbors  a  correct 
understanding  and  wholesome  appreciation  of  the  real  value  of  the 
negro  as  an  economic  asset  to  the  South  and  to  the  nation. 

The  causes  which  have  retarded  the  growth  of  education  for  the 
negro  child  are  principally  those  which  have  served  to  delay  the 
development  of  education  for  the  white  child  in  the  Southern 
States.  Funds  have  been  inadequate,  and  a  dual  system  of  public 
schools  has  been  necessary  and  required, — one  system  for  the 
colored  and  another  for  the  white  children.  Both  systems  have 
been  poor  when  compared  with  the  public-school  systems  of  many 
other  sections  of  the  country,  but  they  were  the  best  that  condi- 
tions would  permit.  Nevertheless  the  poor  quality  of  the  schools 
gave  rise  to  distrust  and  natural  misgivings  concerning  the  value 
of  public  education.  This  is  obviously  one  reason  why  the  educa- 
tion of  the  negro  has  been  so  troublesome  and  discouraging.  More- 
over, the  relation  between  education  and  personal  health,  public 
safety,  economic  wealth,  and  civic  betterment  generally  has  not 
yet  been  definitely  and  fully  established  in  the  minds  of  most  of 
the  negroes  themselves  or  of  many  others  who  have  seemed  inter- 
ested in  their  education.  This  failure  or  neglect  has  been  due  not 
alone  to  the  meager  educational  provisions  and  to  the  lack  of  the 
proper  kind  of  leadership  among  the  negroes  but  also  to  the  false 
conceptions  which  zealous  but  often  indiscreet  reformers  have  had 
of  education  for  the  negro.  And  their  activities  have  often  served 
to  retard  rather  than  to  promote  the  just  cause  of  negro  education. 


456          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

In  the  face  of  these  discouraging  conditions,  most  of  which  were 
inherited  from  the  period  of  and  immediately  following  the  Civil 
War,  public  sentiment  for  the  proper  education  of  the  negroes  has 
been  gaining  in  recent  years,  and  educational  opportunity  for  them 
is  now  more  rapidly  extending.  This  appears  in  improvements  in 
the  training  of  teachers,  in  the  increase  in  high-school  instruction, 
in  better  school  buildings,  and  in  supplying  other  educational  needs 
of  the  colored  children.  Since  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes 
there  was  never  a  time  when  the  people  of  the  South  were  so  ready 
as  now  to  help  provide  more  adequate  facilities  for  negro  educa- 
tion. In  many  of  the  States  county  training  schools  have  been 
established  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  and  the  improvement 
of  those  already  in  service;  better  salaries  are  being  paid;  the 
normal  schools  are  being  improved  and  enlarged;  safer  health 
regulations  are  being  enforced ;  well-trained  supervisors  are  being 
employed  in  increasing  numbers ;  and  the  state  programs  for  negro 
education  generally  are  more  liberal  than  ever  before. 

The  work  of  the  Jeanes  Fund,  the  Slater  Fund,  the  General 
Education  Board,  the  Phelps-Stokes  Fund,  and  the  Rosenwald 
Fund,  in  cooperation  with  state  and  county  educational  authori- 
ties, has  served  to  develop  a  better  sentiment  for  the  education  of 
the  negro.  The  silent  campaigns  for  health,  cleanliness,  industry  and 
thrift,  cooperation,  better  teachers  and  better  schoolhouses  (which 
the  assistance  of  such  agencies  has  promoted),  have  helped  to  win 
a  way  for  the  public  education  of  the  colored  child.  Agents  of  the 
Jeanes  Fund  operate  effectively,  training  schools  have  been  set  up 
and  maintained  in  numerous  counties  by  aid  from  the  Slater  Fund 
and  from  the  county  and  state  funds,  and  through  these  schools 
new  interest  has  been  given  to  industrial  education,  sanitation, 
home-making,  teaching-training,  and  other  vital  interests  of  the 
colored  people.  Assistance  from  the  General  Education  Board, 
through  the  support  of  state  agents  of  rural  schools  for  negroes,  is 
yet  another  useful  service  for  negro  education  in  the  South.  More 
recently  the  Rosenwald  Fund  has  begun  assistance  in  building 
schoolhouses  for  negroes. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  457 

In  the  past  the  South  has  not  been  able  to  boast  of  achievement 
for  the  public  education  of  the  negro.  And  there  is  yet  much  to 
be  done  for  his  education.  But  the  various  States  have  recently 
faced  in  the  right  direction.  The  lack  of  the  negro's  industrial 
skill  has  served  to  retard  the  economic  progress  of  the  South,  and 
so  long  as  adequate  and  proper  educational  provision  is  not  made 
this  condition  will  continue  to  prevail.  The  South  is  rapidly  com- 
ing to  see  that  instruction  and  training  in  industrial  skill  will  carry 
also  valuable  lessons  in  economy  and  thrift,  in  health  habits, 
cleanliness,  and  respectability,  and  in  regard  for  order  and  for 
law.  The  properly  educated  negro  has  not  only  a  larger  earning 
capacity  but  higher  ideals  of  living.  He  lives  in  a  better  home, 
wears  better  clothes,  has  more  wholesome  food  for  himself  and  his 
family,  has  better  health  and  higher  moral  standards,  is  ambitious 
for  the  proper  education  and  the  decent  rearing  of  his  children,  is 
a  more  effective  worker  and  thus  helps  to  create  more  wealth,  and 
in  times  of  difficulty  or  race  friction  is  always  on  the  side  of  law 
and  other.  He  is  a  more  useful  and  contented  citizen  than  the 
uneducated,  unintelligent,  or  improperly  trained  negro.1 

The  real  progress  of  education  for  the  negro  in  the  South  is  to 
be  measured,  therefore,  by  an  increase  in  his  industry  and  thrift, 
in  the  exhibition  of  the  virtues  of  self-restraint,  and  in  the  prac- 
tice of  good  habits  of  citizenship.  These  qualities  and  abilities 
can  be  promoted  only  by  adequate  educational  facilities  and  the 
right  kind  of  leadership.  But  the  real  success  of  the  negro  as  an 
effective  and  productive  citizen  depends  for  him,  as  for  the  white 
man,  more  on  his  behavior  and  his  sense  of  social  responsibility 
than  on  his  technical  or  formal  educational  achievement.  To  these 
ends  the  elementary-school  system  for  the  negro  children  needs  to 
be  strengthened  and  improved  by  providing  better-trained  teach- 
ers, better  houses  and  equipment,  and  closer  supervision.  The 
curriculum  of  the  elementary  school  needs  to  be  related  more 

alt  is  estimated  that  more  than  112,000  negro  workers  in  the  South  are 
sick  and  incapacitated  for  work  all  the  time,  and  that  the  annual  economic 
loss  from  preventable  illness  and  deaths  of  these  negroes  is  nearly  $50,000,000. 


458          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

closely  to  the  daily  life  of  the  negro,  with  more  effective  and 
practical  instruction  in  agriculture,  gardening,  household  arts, 
home-making  and  simple  industries,  health,  sanitation,  morality, 
cleanliness,  and  the  fundamentals  of  good  citizenship.  The  facili- 
ties for  training  teachers  for  the  negro  schools  need  to  be  increased, 
and  more  industrial  and  agricultural  secondary  schools  need  to  be 
provided  in  all  the  Southern  States. 

The  Southern  States  have  always  been  primarily  agricultural ; 
and  the  principal  sources  of  their  wealth  are  still  in  the  soil. 
Approximately  80  per  cent  of  the  people  live  in  the  rural  sections 
and  follow  farming  as  an  occupation.  The  permanent  prosperity 
and  well-being  of  the  South,  therefore,  are  closely  dependent  upon 
the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  rural  population,  for  what- 
ever affects  their  welfare  affects  also  the  South  and  the  nation. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  strategic  point  in  the  South's  future 
growth  appears  in  the  kind  of  provision  that  is  made  for  the 
education  and  training  of  the  large  army  of  rural  children. 

From  the  facts  pointed  out  above  it  is  evident  that  adequate 
educational  facilities  have  not  yet  been  provided  for  these  children 
and  that  equality  of  educational  opportunity  does  not  exist  for 
them.  Differences  between  the  educational  advantage  offered  the 
children  of  the  country  and  those  provided  for  the  children  of  the 
towns  and  cities  are  glaring.  In  available  school  funds,  in  build- 
ings and  equipment,  in  length  of  school  term,  in  effective  teaching, 
in  organization,  subject  matter,  and  supervision,  in  teachers'  sal- 
aries, and  in  numerous  other  particulars  the  rural  school  is  gen- 
erally inferior  to  the  school  in  the  town  or  city. 

The  available  school  funds  for  each  town  or  city  child  are  more 
than  twice  that  provided  for  each  rural  child  in  the  South.  The 
value  of  the  school  property  provided  for  each  city  child  is  between 
three  and  four  times  greater  than  that  provided  for  the  rural  child. 
The  annual  salary  of  the  city  teacher  is  nearly  twice  that  now  paid 
the  rural  teacher.  In  several  of  the  Southern  States  the  school 
term  provided  for  the  rural  children  is  30  per  cent  shorter  than 
that  provided  for  the  city  children.  In  these  and  other  ways  the 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  459 

city  child  is  favored,  and  in  the  public  mind  he  is  regarded  as  de- 
serving a  larger  and  better  educational  opportunity  than  that  now 
provided  for  the  country  child.  These  conditions  make  it  evident 
that  equal  educational  rights  are  not  guaranteed  to  the  larger 
number  of  the  children  of  the  South. 

The  differences  between  the  educational  facilities  afforded  the 
city  child  and  those  offered  the  country  child  are  numerous.  A 
bright  boy  in  a  typical  rural  school  in  the  South  receives  fewer 
than  two  visits  a  year  from  a  supervising  school  officer.  He  is 
taught  by  a  teacher  who  probably  holds  a  certificate  lower  than 
that  of  the  standard  grade  issued  by  the  State.  Moreover,  that 
teacher  is  undertaking  to  do  from  four  to  seven  grades  of  work. 
She  has  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  daily  recitations  of  from 
only  ten  to  twelve  minutes  each.  At  best  the  bright  boy  in  the 
rural  school  receives  only  about  fifty-five  or  sixty  minutes'  instruc- 
tion each  day,  or  about  one  sixth  of  his  school  time.  The  rest 
of  his  time  he  is  forced  to  spend  aimlessly  at  his  desk,  with  the 
resulting  tendency  toward  idleness  and  other  evils  which  appear 
when  children  are  not  properly  supervised  and  directed. 

Another  boy  of  the  same  age  and  of  the  same  mental  capacity 
finds  the  case  different  in  a  well-graded  town  or  rural  consolidated 
school.  At  the  head  of  this  school  is  a  well-trained  principal  or 
supervisor,  who  visits  the  various  rooms  daily  or  several  times 
each  week  to  assist  the  teachers.  In  most  cases  these  teachers  are 
well  trained,  hold  standard  certificates,  and  are  allowed  to  teach 
only  a  limited  number  of  recitations  each  day.  This  city  boy  has 
a  much  larger  annual  school  term  and  receives  daily  a  much  larger 
part  of  the  teacher's  time  for  actual  class  instruction — perhaps 
three  or  four  times  as  much  as  that  provided  for  the  boy  in  the 
typical  rural  school. 

These  facts  mean  that  the  Southern  States  have  not  yet  provided 
adequate  educational  advantages  for  fully  four  fifths  of  their  chil- 
dren, that  rural  education  has  not  yet  been  standardized  and 
modernized,  and  that  it  has  not  been  touched  by  the  spirit  of 
improvement  which  has  been  marked  in  urban  education  in  recent 


460          PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

years.  They  mean  that  to  make  better  provision  for  the  education 
of  the  children  who  live  in  the  rural  districts  the  Southern  States 
have  a  distinct  obligation,  and  that  this  task  calls  for  intelligent 
thought  and  a  high  type  of  educational  leadership.  Thoughtful 
consideration  of  the  discrimination  that  now  exists  against  four 
fifths  of  the  children  of  the  South  leads  to  certain  important  ques- 
tions :  How  can  the  educational  advantages  now  enjoyed  by  the 
20  per  cent  be  enjoyed  also  by  the  other  80  per  cent?  How  can 
the  rural  children  be  provided  with  safer  and  better  school 
buildings,  equipment,  and  grounds,  better-trained  teachers,  richer 
courses  of  study,  closer  and  more  helpful  supervision  and  direction, 
and  numerous  other  advantages  now  denied  them  ? x 

The  best  experience  of  the  country  shows  that  the  answer  to 
these  questions  is  found  in  the  consolidation  of  the  small  ineffec- 
tive schools  into  larger,  better-organized,  and  more  closely  directed 
schools.  Consolidation  means  provision  for  enlarged  educational 
opportunity.  It  means  concentrated  and  purposeful  educational 
effort.  It  means  better  teachers  and  more  effective  training  for 
the  large  army  of  boys  and  girls  of  the  rural  sections,  many  of 
whom  are  now  forced  to  depend  on  the  small,  ineffective  schools 
for  practically  all  the  educational  training  they  ever  receive.  In 
several  States  consolidation  has  proved  itself  a  forward  step 
toward  providing  equality  of  educational  opportunity  for  all  the 
children,  and  through  it  many  of  the  persistent  problems  now  fac- 
ing rural  education  in  the  South  can  be  solved. 

Consolidation  means  the  union  of  small,  weak,  poorly  graded, 
poorly  attended,  and  poorly  taught  schools  into  a  large,  strong, 
and  well-graded  school,  properly  located,  adequately  equipped,  and 
effectively  taught  by  competent,  well-trained  teachers.  The  one- 
teacher  or  one-room  school  is  inferior  to  the  larger  and  better- 
directed  school.  Its  natural  limitations  are  many,  and  it  cannot 
give  the  children  and  the  community  the  service  needed.  The 

1In  1918  the  number  of  rural  schools  having  only  one  room  varied  from 
42  per  cent  in  Texas  to  81  per  cent  in  Arkansas.  More  than  65  per  cent  of 
all  the  rural  schools  in  the  South  at  that  time  had  only  one  room. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  461 

purpose  of  the  consolidated  school  is  to  afford  a  larger  and  better 
educational  service  to  the  community  it  is  set  up  to  serve.  Intelli- 
gent consolidation  gives  comfortable,  safe,  and  adequate  school 
buildings,  equipment,  and  grounds,  and  an  adequate  number  of 
teachers  with  sufficient  time  to  do  effectively  the  work  in  the 
usual  elementary-school  and  secondary-school  subjects  and  in 
manual  training,  domestic  science  and  domestic  art,  agriculture, 
and  other  subjects  demanded  by  the  needs  of  the  times.  The 
teacher  of  the  small,  one-room  school,  with  its  various  grades 
of  work,  now  finds  it  well-nigh  impossible  to  give  proper  attention 
to  the  prescribed  subjects,  to  say  nothing  of  directing  any  work 
whatever  in  the  modern  subjects  which  find  a  place  in  the  larger 
and  better-organized  schools  in  the  towns  and  cities. 

Results  that  follow  from  actual  cases  of  consolidation  show  the 
following  distinct  advantages  of  the  plan : 

1.  Intelligent  consolidation  means  a  larger  taxable  area,  and 
thus  makes  the  district  strong  and  financially  more  effective  than 
the  smaller,  weaker  district  can  possibly  be. 

2.  It  means  more  comfortable,  convenient,  and  attractive  and 
better-equipped  school  buildings.    In  such  buildings  the  health  and 
the  morals  of  the  children  are  safeguarded  to  a  greater  degree  than 
is  possible  in  the  smaller,  one-room  schools. 

3.  Because  of  the  more  nearly  adequate  salaries  and  the  oppor- 
tunity afforded  for  an  effective  and  agreeable  division  of  labor  and 
for  more  systematized  work,  the  consolidated  school  insures  better- 
trained  teachers,  who  are  willing  to  remain  for  long  terms  in  the 
same  communities. 

4.  The  intelligently  consolidated  school  makes  possible  a  more 
nearly  complete  course  of  study,  including  the  high-school  subjects, 
agriculture,  domestic  science,  industrial  arts,  drawing,  music,  and 
other  courses  which  are  always  found  in  the  best  type  of  modern 
schools. 

5.  The  consolidated  school  affords  a  better  grading  and  clas- 
sification of  pupils  and  a  general  standardization  of  the  entire 
work.    More  time  can  be  given  to  each  recitation,  thus  increasing 


462  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

the  opportunity  of  the  individual  pupil  for  thoroughness  of  work. 
Better-organized  class  instruction,  such  as  that  found  in  the  con- 
solidated schools,  becomes  a  source  of  inspiration  and  thus  assists 
in  the  development  of  leadership.  In  the  consolidated  school  the 
time  of  the  teacher  is  not  frittered  away  by  having  to  teach  such 
a  large  number  of  classes  daily. 

6.  In  the  consolidated  school  opportunity  is  afforded  for  a 
closer  and  more  intelligent  supervision  which  is  now  impracticable 
in  rural  sections  with  dozens  of  little  schools  scattered  all  over  the 
county.  Such  supervision  improves  the  effectiveness  of  the  teach- 
ers and  furnishes  the  professional  contacts  now  denied  the  teachers 
of  the  small  schools. 

7.  The  consolidated  school  affords  the  child  the  chance  to 
secure  a  high-school  education  near  his  own  home,  an  opportunity 
now  by  no  means  within  the  reach  of  most  country  boys  and  girls 
in  the  South.  Larger  numbers  of  such  boys  and  girls  would  then 
enter  the  high  school,  because  the  consolidated  school  would  make 
provision  for  adequate  high-school  instruction. 

8.  By  means  of  the  adequately  equipped  consolidated  school  a 
great  saving  is  thus  made  possible  in  the  expense  of  sending  chil- 
dren away  from  home  for  high-school  training  or  preparation  for 
college. 

9.  The  consolidated  school  stimulates  and  develops  a  more 
wholesome  and  attractive  community  spirit  and  interest,  which  are 
reflected  by  church,  social,  and  other  community  organizations 
and  activities. 

10.  The  consolidated, school  enriches  and  strengthens  the  lives 
of  the  boys  and  girls  and  the  men  and  women  of  the  community 
which  it  serves.   Larger  classes  than  are  usually  found  in  the  small 
rural  schools  add  to  the  interest  of  the  pupils.   The  stimulation 
thus  afforded  serves  to  broaden  the  lives  and  the  interests  of  the 
children  and  to  hold  them  in  school. 

11.  Intelligent  consolidation  tends  to  develop  a  more  healthy 
spirit  and  interest  in  the  school  and  in  the  community.   The  de- 
bating clubs,  literary  societies,  musical  clubs,  athletic  contests, 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  463 

parent-teachers'  associations,  and  other  organizations  for  the  men 
and  the  women  of  the  community  tend  to  create  a  wholesome  spirit 
which  is  not  possible  in  the  small  community  of  the  one-room 
school.  Pride  and  public  interest  are  quickened  and  confidence 
and  enthusiasm  are  inspired  by  varied  social  activities  made  pos- 
sible in  the  community  of  the  consolidated  school. 

12.  Experience  shows  that  the  consolidated  school  insures  the 
enrollment  of  a  larger  percentage  of  the  children  of  school  age, 
insures  a  better  attendance  of  those  enrolled,  affords  a  longer  term, 
keeps  the  boys  and  girls  in  school,  accomplishes  greater  results  in 
the  same  length  of  time,  secures  better  management  and  better 
discipline  because  better  organized  than  the  smaller  school,  insures 
more  competent  school  officials  by  having  a  larger  district  from 
which  to  select  them,  and  affords  all  the  children  the  same  chances 
for  better  educational  advantages  which,  under  the  small-district 
school  system,  only  a  small  number  now  have.  What  is  now  the 
privilege  of  a  few  will  then  become  equally  the  opportunity  of  all. 
The  consolidated  school  makes  compliance  with  the  compulsory- 
attendance  law  more  nearly  feasible  and  justifiable;  it  helps  to 
eliminate  truancy,  to  reduce  irregular  attendance,  and  to  reduce 
tardiness  to  a  minimum ;  it  enhances  the  value  of  farm  lands  and 
real  estate  in  the  community  served  by  the  school  and  is  closely 
related  to  public  interest  in  good  roads  and  improved  transporta- 
tion facilities. 

The  consolidation  of  schools  naturally  involves  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  pupils.  This  is  one  of  the  difficult  parts  of  successful 
consolidation,  and  upon  the  successful  solution  of  this  difficulty 
depends  in  large  measure  the  success  of  consolidation.  Failure  at 
this  point  means  complete  failure  of  the  plan.  But  if  the  Southern 
States  carry  out  successfully  the  creditable  road-building  programs 
now  in  process  and  in  contemplation,  this  problem  of  consolida- 
tion will  sooner  or  later  become  relatively  easy  of  solution.  The 
condition  of  the  roads,  however,  while  naturally  somewhat  affect- 
ing transportation,  need  not  always  be  its  greatest  hindrance.  If 
roads  are  passable  for  any  other  kind  of  wagon  it  will  be  practicable 


464  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  the  school  wagon  to  get  over  them.  In  most  cases  school 
wagons  or  motor  busses  can  be  employed.  Experience  shows  that 
wherever  the  roads  are  of  the  improved  kind  the  motor  truck 
or  motor  bus  is  more  satisfactory  and  advantageous,  but  wherever 
the  roads  are  unimproved  the  horse-drawn  wagon  has  been  found 
to  give  highly  satisfactory  results.  The  manufacture  of  school 
wagons  and  motor  trucks  has  now  come  to  be  a  large  industry. 
They  are  strongly  built,  well  ventilated,  and  equipped  with  safe 
heating  appliances,  so  that  the  children  can  travel  long  distances 
to  school  with  much  greater  comfort,  greater  safety,  and  less 
danger  to  their  health  than  when  walking  through  bad  weather 
or  over  bad  roads  to  the  small  school  in  the  community. 

In  the  main  the  Southern  States  have  already  generally  accepted 
the  principle  of  rural-school  consolidation,  but  they  have  not  yet 
practically  applied  the  principle  as  extensively  and  as  wisely  as 
the  needs  seem  to  require.  It  appears,  however,  that  thoughtful 
school  boards  and  superintendents  are  beginning  to  take  seriously 
the  subject  of  making  the  rural  school  more  effective,  and  to  that 
end  are  looking  to  consolidation  and  transportation  as  outstand- 
ing means  by  which  this  can  be  done.  This  feature  of  rural-school 
work  is  now  claiming  more  attention  than  ever  before  in  the  South. 

Too  often,  however,  the  tendency  has  been  to  consolidate  with 
reference  to  the  desires  of  localities  rather  than  with  reference  to 
the  needs  of  the  county  at  large.  For  that  reason  it  appears  im- 
portant that  the  county  board  and  the  superintendent  look  at  their 
county  as  a  whole,  rather  than  at  its  various  parts  or  local  districts, 
if  intelligent  consolidation  is  to  be  made  throughout  the  entire 
county.  By  viewing  the  county  as  a  whole  the  officials  and  the 
people  are  enabled  to  cooperate  and  to  act  more  intelligently  in 
redistricting  the  county  and  in  planning  for  a  permanent  school 
system.  To  get  such  a  view,  adequate  and  complete,  it  would 
seem  essential  that  the  board  and  the  superintendent  be  in  posses- 
sion of  data  such  as  the  following : 

i.  Information  concerning  the  general  external  and  internal 
school  conditions  of  the  entire  county  is  needed.  This  can  be  had 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  465 

by  an  impartial,  sympathetic,  fair,  and  accurate  statement  of 
actual  facts,  both  statistical  and  informational  in  character.  Such 
a  statement  can,  of  course,  be  best  prepared  by  the  superintendent, 
though  it  may  sometimes  be  necessary  for  him  to  have  assistance 
with  the  details.  The  statement  should  be  prepared  in  full  and  in 
writing  and  so  made  as  to  be  easily  and  intelligently  understood  by 
the  board  and  by  the  average  citizen  of  the  county.  Technical 
terms  and  the  so-called  " survey"  terminology  should  be  avoided, 
as  well  as  the  attitude  that  often  appears  in  the  survey.  The 
statement  should  above  all  be  sympathetic  rather  than  critical. 

2 .  On  such  a  statement  helpful,  practical  suggestions  and  recom- 
mendations for  improvement  should  be  made.    These  should  also 
be  in  writing  and  so  stated  as  to  be  easily  and  intelligently  under- 
stood by  both  the  board  and  the  average  citizen. 

3.  An  adequate,  up-to-date  map  of  the  county  should  be  pre- 
pared and  used,  because  graphic  illustration  conveys  definite  ideas 
more  readily  and  safely.    On  such  a  map  information  such  as  the 
following  should  be  shown : 

(a)  The  boundaries  of  the  present  school  districts. 

(b)  The  location  of  each  schoolhouse. 

(c)  The  location  of  each  home,  with  the  number  of  school  chil- 
dren in  each. 

(d)  All  roads  should  be  shown.   The  present  condition  of  the 
roads  should  also  be  indicated,  and  all  road-building  projects  in 
process  or  in  contemplation  by  the  county  and  the  state-highway 
board  should  be  taken  into  account  in  this  connection. 

(e)  All  natural  barriers,  such  as  rivers,  creeks,  swamps,  and 
mountains,  should  be  shown. 

4.  Accurate  information  should  also  be  had  concerning 
(c)  The  general  school  interest  of  each  school  district. 

(b)  The  size  of  each  school  district  and  the  number  of  chil- 
dren in  it. 

(c)  The  size  of  each  schoolhouse. 

(d)  The  school  population,  the  enrollment,  and  the  average 
daily  attendance  of  each  school  district. 


466  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

(e)  The  general  attitude  of  the  people  of  each  school  district  on 
the  subject  of  the  consolidation  of  schools  and  the  transportation 
of  pupils.  This  can  be  safely  gained  only  by  tact,  patience,  and 
innumerable  personal  interviews.  In  most  cases  it  will  be  gained 
very  slowly.  Undue  agitation  does  not  advance  the  cause. 

With  such  information  properly  in  hand  and  properly  digested 
by  the  board  and  the  superintendent,  a  tentative  plan  for  redistrict- 
ing  the  county  can  be  made  with  a  view  to  wise  consolidation. 
After  such  a  plan  is  worked  out  another  map  should  be  prepared 
showing  the  proposed  new  districts  as  well  as  the  old  districts  to 
be  retained.  The  board  and  the  superintendent  will,  of  course,  be 
prepared  to  give  sufficient  reasons  for  any  and  all  changes  pro- 
posed, and,  if  occasion  should  require,  they  should  be  able  to  set 
forth  convincingly  the  advantages  of  the  proposed  changes  and  to 
meet  the  objections  to  them. 

Meantime  there  should  be  carried  on  a  systematic  policy  of 
intelligent  publicity  all  over  the  county — through  the  newspapers, 
the  motion-picture  service,  the  county-school  newspaper,  exten- 
sion work  by  community  meetings,  or  regular  communications 
from  the  board  and  the  superintendent  to  the  people.  For  this 
purpose  an  up-to-date  mailing  list  of  the  active  citizens  of  the 
county  should  be  kept  in  the  superintendent's  office. 

The  experience  of  practically  all  the  States  shows  conclusively 
that  there  are  two  ways  to  consolidate  schools  in  the  rural  sections. 
Consolidation  may  be  made  by  giving  attention  to  the  effect  of 
the  redistricting  and  of  each  proposed  consolidation  on  the  entire 
county,  or  it  may  be  gained  by  considering  the  effect  on  only  the 
most  interested  districts.  It  may  be  made  by  acting  honestly  in 
the  interests  of  all  the  children  to  be  served  by  it,  so  as  to  provide 
the  most  adequate  educational  advantages  with  the  least  hardship 
to  the  greatest  number  of  these  children,  or  it  may  be  had  by 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  desires  of  a  few  influential  people  in 
the  various  communities  who  may  be  moved  by  local  or  selfish 
purposes. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  467 

Consolidation  may  be  gained  by  locating  the  new  house  properly 
(that  is,  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  center  of  the  school  popula- 
tion of  the  proposed  new  district,  where  it  will  conveniently  serve 
the  largest  number  of  children),  or  it  may  be  had  by  locating  the 
house  near  the  homes  of  certain  influential  people  in  the  com- 
munity. It  may  be  made  by  wisely  delaying  final  action  until  the 
time  is  ripe  and  public  sentiment  has  been  developed  so  as  to  place 
the  house  at  the  proper  and  logical  point,  or  it  may  be  made  by 
hasty  action  in  locating  the  new  house  away  from  the  logical  and 
sensible  center.  An  ill-advised  plan  hastily  entered  into  produces 
annoyance  and  confusion  and  leads  eventually  to  another  change 
which  often  proves  costly  both  in  money  and  community  interest. 

Consolidation  may  be  secured  by  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
funds  available  or  to  be  available  for  it,  by  a  careful  counting  of 
the  cost  of  the  new  undertaking ;  or  it  may  be  had  by  neglecting 
this  important  point  in  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment.  It  is 
highly  important  to  count  the  cost  accurately.  This  prevents  mis- 
understanding and  numerous  troubles.  Failure  here  is  likely  to 
bring  the  new  plan  promptly  into  disrepute. 

Consolidation  may  be  had  by  keeping  in  mind  the  children  of 
the  remote  parts  of  the  new  district  and  by  carefully  planning  the 
routes  so  that  transportation  for  all  such  children  will  be  comfort- 
ably provided  for ;  or  it  can  be  had  by  assigning  to  the  new  school 
certain  children  who  live  at  long  walking  distances  away,  without 
providing  for  their  transportation.  Walking  unreasonable  dis- 
tances should  not  be  required  of  some  children  if  any  children  are 
to  be  transported.  Every  child  is  entitled  to  thoughtful  considera- 
tion in  this  highly  important  matter. 

Consolidation  may  be  had  in  the  right  way,  so  as  to  give 
wholesome  and  effective  results.  Educational  interest  will  then 
grow  in  strength  and  wide  popularity.  But  unwise  consolidation 
will  eventually  destroy  educational  interest  in  the  community  and 
give  the  Cause  disastrous  setbacks  from  which  it  will  be  difficult 
to  recover. 


468  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Real  and  lasting  progress  in  the  South  depends  for  its  promotion 
very  largely  upon  economic  wealth,  the  willingness  to  use  that 
wealth  for  the  advancement  of  public  well-being,  and  the  vision  of 
the  leaders  and  governing  authorities  and  their  attitude  toward 
certain  interests.  Among  these  interests  are  the  building  and 
maintenance  of  modern  roads  and  highways,  the  encouragement  of 
progressive  methods  of  agriculture,  and  the  promotion  of  public 
education,  public  health,  and  public  welfare  generally.  Rural  life 
in  the  South  can  never  be  made  wholesome  and  inviting  and 
satisfying  except  through  the  full  development  of  these  essential 
factors. 

Happily  for  public  education  and  the  betterment  of  rural  life 
advancement  along  these  lines  is  now  more  promising  than  for- 
merly. Road-building  is  receiving  more  attention,  and  creditable 
programs  of  scientific  road  construction  have  been  set  in  motion  as 
an  important  part  of  the  growing  business  of  the  various  States. 
To  local  and  state  funds  are  now  added  millions  of  Federal  funds 
which  are  available  for  the  building  and  maintenance  of  highways. 
Improved  road  machinery  is  being  bought,  the  best  engineers  are 
being  secured,  and  armies  of  road-builders  are  being  employed  in 
construction  and  maintenance  work.  A  new  day  for  good  roads  is 
at  hand  in  the  South.  The  advancement  of  the  Southern  States  in 
agricultural  practices  and  in  the  production  of  wealth  is  also 
marked.  Farm  crops  have  increased  from  threefold  to  fivefold, 
bank  resources  have  increased  in  similar  manner,  and  the  economic 
position  of  the  Southern  States  has  so  greatly  advanced  during  the 
past  decade  that  they  cannot  longer  be  classified  as  poor.  But  the 
primary  wealth  of  any  people  lies  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  its 
citizens,  and  no  prosperity  can  be  of  advantage  if  the  level  of 
citizenship  and  public  wholesomeness  is  not  thereby  advanced 
through  education  and  leadership  and  if  the  coming  generation 
is  not  thus  better  equipped  to  bear  the  increasing  burdens  of 
democracy. 

The  World  War  drew  sharp  attention  to  public  educational 
weaknesses  and  defects.  Other  influences  now  promise  to  give 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  469 

impetus  to  greater  educational  interest  and  endeavor  during  the 
next  generation.  Already  those  influences  are  being  felt.  Educa- 
tional organization  in  the  South  promises  to  be  set  up  on  the  more 
sensible  basis  of  the  county  as  the  correct  unit  for  support,  admin- 
istration, and  supervision,  so  as  to  embrace  and  furnish  every 
child  an  educational  opportunity  equal  to  that  of  every  other  child. 
The  rural  school  will  eventually  be  put  on  a  more  nearly  equal 
footing  with  the  city  school,  and  provision  will  be  made  for  its  ade- 
quate support  and  direction  and  the  enrichment  of  its  curriculum. 
There  will  be  called  to  the  support  and  stimulation  of  rural  educa- 
tion the  American  doctrine  of  taxation  on  all  the  property  of  the 
State  for  the  equal  education  of  all  the  children  of  the  State.  Sound 
business  and  professional  principles  will  be  employed  in  public 
educational  work,  which  will  then  increase  in  dignity.  The  finan- 
cial returns  and  the  tenure  of  administrators  and  teachers  will  be 
made  larger  and  more  secure.  Emancipation  of  education  from 
petty  politics,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  finally  be  secured,  and  the 
State  will  take  more  seriously  the  important  work  of  public  edu- 
cation. Then  the  public  schools  will  attract  the  strongest  men  and 
women  as  directors  and  teachers  and  be  regarded  as  sound  and  safe 
in  their  practices  and  more  nearly  in  line  with  our  boasted  de- 
mocracy and  the  spirit  of  American  institutions. 

Education  is  now,  as  it  has  always  been,  the  most  important 
need  of  the  South.  This  need  is  not  for  education  in  its  narrow, 
traditional,  or  academic  sense,  however,  but  for  that  kind  of  in- 
struction and  training  which  will  awaken  sound  interest  and 
enthusiasm  for  personal  wholesomeness  and  public  well-being, 
enlighten  public  opinion,  and  direct  and  lead  the  energies  of  men 
and  women  to  human  service  and  to  the  preservation  and  improve- 
ment of  free  government.  The  need  now,  more  than  ever  before, 
is  for  that  type  of  public  education  which  will  make  paramount 
for  all  the  people  effective  instruction  and  training  in  correct  ideals 
and  practices  of  personal  obligations  and  of  civic  responsibilities. 
Then  the  people  will  observe  with  intelligence  and  faithfulness  all 
the  numerous  social  and  political  relations  under  which  they  live, 


470  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

exercise  their  rights  with  order  and  justice,  and  perform  their 
duties  with  discretion  and  competence.  Then  and  then  only  can 
they  understand  what  is  going  on  in  the  world  and  keep  their  part 
of  it  going  on  right. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION  AND  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Why  is  public  education  in  rural  communities  less  advanced  than 
in  towns  and  cities  ? 

2.  Study  the  ten  tests  of  efficiency  of  public  schools   given  by 
Ayres  and  described  in  this  chapter,  and  apply  them  to  the  school 
system  of  your  State.   Do  you  consider  these  representative  measures 
of  a  school  system's  effectiveness?   Why?    Note  the  rank  of  your 
State  for  the  various  periods  and  explain  the  causes  of  its  loss  or  gain. 

3.  How  does  your  State  compare  with  the  United  States  at  large 
in  (a)  length  of  school  term,  (£>)  salaries  of  teachers,  (c)  percentage 
of  school  population  in  average  daily  attendance,   (d)  percentage  of 
school  population  in  high  schools,  (e)  average  annual  expenditure  per 
child  of  school  age  and  per  child  attending  school? 

4.  Calculate  the  waste  of  school  expenditures  on  account  of  non- 
attendance  and  compare  it  with  the  average  for  the  United  States  and 
for  the  South. 

5.  Study  the  recent  development  of  rural  high  schools  and  point 
out  the  needs  of  this  part  of  the  school  system  in  your  State.    In  how 
many  counties,  if  any,  in  your  State  have  standard  public  high  schools 
not  been  established? 

6.  Why  is  the  South  lacking  in  an  adequate  supply  of  well-trained 
teachers  ?    Give  the  principal  ways  by  which  a  sufficient  number  can  be 
recruited  and  retained  in  the  profession. 

7.  Note  the  percentage  of  the  teachers  in  your  county  who  arc 
teaching  this  year  for  the  first  time  and  compare  it  with  the  average 
for  the  State. 

8.  Compare  the  teachers'  examination  and  certificating  practices  in 
your  State  with  those  of  other  Southern  States  and  point  out  their 
points  of  strength  and  of  weakness. 

9.  Compare  your  State  with  other  States  in  (a)  method  of  school, 
support ;   (6)  adoption  of  textbooks ;   (c)  provisions  for  compulsory 
attendance,  child  labor,  public  health,  physical  examination  of  school 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  471 

children,  and  public  welfare;  (d)  provisions  for  the  elimination  of 
adult  illiteracy  and  for  the  enrichment  of  the  curriculum  and  for  citi- 
zenship training ;  (e)  vocational  and  industrial  instruction. 

10.  (a)  Point  out  the  advantages  of  the  county  unit  for  the  organi- 
zation, administration,   support,  and  supervision   of  rural   education. 
(6)   What  are  the  disadvantages  of  the  popular  election  of  school 
superintendents?    (c)  What  in  your  opinion  are  the  principal  needs 
of  rural  education  in  your  State  today? 

11.  (a)  List  the  arguments  for  and  against  consolidation  of  rural 
schools.    (6)   What  are  the  legal  qualifications   for  county  superin- 
tendents in  your  State?    (c)   How  has  the  education  of  the  negro 
improved  in  your  State  during  the  past  ten  years  ? 

12.  How  many  one-room  schools  in  your  State?  in  your  County? 
How  many  small  rural  schools  have  been  eliminated  by  consolidation  in 
your  State  during  the  past  five  years  ?    How  many  have  been  eliminated 
in  your  County  during  that  time  ?   What  are  the  chief  obstacles  to  con- 
solidation in  your  State  ?  in  your  County  ? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  the  various  States.  An  Educational  Study  of 
Alabama,  Bulletin  No.  41,  1919,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education.  Wash- 
ington, 1919.  AYRES,  An  Index  Number  for  State  School  Systems.  New 
York,  1920.  BONNER,  Statistics  of  State  School  Systems  1917-1918,  Bulle- 
tin No.  n,  1020,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education.  Washington,  1920. 
CUBBERLEY,  Public  Education  in  the  United  States.  Boston,  1919.  CUB- 
BERLEY,  Public  School  Administration.  Boston,  1916.  CUBBERLEY,  Rural 
Life  and  Education.  Boston,  1914.  CUBBERLEY,  The  Improvement  of  Rural 
Schools.  Boston,  1912.  "Declaration  of  Principles,"  by  representative 
negroes  of  North  Carolina.  State  Department  of  Education.  Raleigh,  1919. 
DEWEY,  JOHN  and  EVELYN,  Schools  of  Tomorrow.  New  York,  1915.  Edu- 
cation in  the  South,  Bulletin  No.  30,  1913,  United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion. Washington,  1913.  FAVROT,  Aims  and  Needs  in  Negro  Public 
Education  in  Louisiana,  Bulletin  No.  2,  State  Department  of  Education. 
Baton  Rouge,  1918.  FAVROT,  Some  Problems  in  the  Education  of  the  Negro 
in  the  South  and  How  We  are  Trying  to  Meet  Them  in  Louisiana.  State 
Department  of  Education.  Baton  Rouge,  1919.  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education,  Second  Annual  Report.  Washington,  1918.  HEATWOLE,  History 
of  Education  in  Virginia.  New  York,  1916.  HOOD,  Digest  of  State  Laws 
Relating  to  Public  Education,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1915-  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education.  Washington,  1916.  HOOD,  State  Laws  Relating  to  Education, 


472  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Bulletin  No.  23,  1918,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education.  Washington,  1919. 
KNIGHT,  "  Public  Education  in  the  South :  Some  Inherited  Ills  and  Some 
Needed  Reforms,"  in  School  and  Society,  January  10,  1920.  KNIGHT,  Public 
School  Education  in  North  Carolina.  Boston,  1916.  MUERMAN,  Minimum 
School  Term  Regulations,  Bulletin  No.  42,  1916,  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education.  Washington,  1920.  Negro  Education :  A  Study  of  the  Private  and 
Higher  Schools  for  Colored  People  in  the  United  States,  2  vols.,  Bulletins 
Nos.  38  and  39, 1916,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education.  Washington,  1917. 
NOBLE,  Forty  Years  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Mississippi.  New  York,  1918. 
Reports  of  the  superintendents  of  public  instruction  of  the  various  States. 
Reports  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  since  1910.  "Rural 
Health,"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Second  National  Country  Life  Conference. 
Washington,  1919.  Virginia  Public  Schools.  Education  Commission's  Report 
to  the  Assembly  of  Virginia.  Richmond,  1919.  WEEKS,  History  of  Public 
School  Education  in  Alabama.  Washington,  1915.  WEEKS,  History  of 
Public  Education  in  Arkansas.  Washington,  1912.  WEEKS,  History  of 
Public  School  Education  in  Tennessee  (examined  in  manuscript). 


INDEX 


"A  Gazetteer  of  Georgia,"  81 

ABC  books,  26 

ABC  shooters,  6 

Abercrombie,  John  W.,  423 

Academies,  in  Alabama,  96,  97;  in 
Arkansas,  97,  98;  characteristics 
of,  104-108;  curriculum  of,  105- 
107 ;  decline  of,  109 ;  descriptions 
of,  77-81;  in  Florida,  98;  fore- 
runner of  normal  schools,  108;  in 
Georgia,  88,  89 ;  influences  of,  108, 
109;  land  endowment  for,  89;  in 
Louisiana,  94-96;  in  Mississippi, 
96;  in  North  Carolina,  88;  nuclei 
of  colleges,  108 ;  replaced  by  public 
high  schools,  109;  in  South  Caro- 
lina, 88 ;  in  Tennessee,  89-93 ;  two 
classes  of,  76;  in  Virginia,  88 

Academy  Movement,  Chapter  IV 

Act  of  Uniformity,  74 

Agricultural  pursuits,  12,  22 ;  main- 
stay of  South,  26 

Agriculture,  need  for  intensive,  442 ; 
principal  occupation,  458 

Advertisements,  relating  to  schools 
and  schoolmasters,  41 

Alabama,  academies  in,  96,  97 ;  ante- 
bellum school  system  of,  250-255; 
carelessness  and  mismanagement 
in>  375  5  education  in,  during  re- 
construction, 374-379;  early  recon- 
struction legislation  in,  314,  315, 
319,  324,  329;  first  state  superin- 
tendent of  schools  appointed  in, 
252 ;  permanent  public-school  en- 
dowment established  in,  177-183; 
poor  laws  and  apprenticeship  prac- 
tices in,  64,  65 ;  recent  condition 
of  public-school  endowment  in, 
191,  192;  school  law  of  1854,  J82, 
183 ;  work  of  Peabody  Fund  in, 
386-388 

Alabama  Educational  Association, 
253 


Alabama  Educational  Journal,  253 

Alderman,  Edwin  A.,  430 

Alexander,  Joseph,  85 

Alexandria  Academy,  88 

Allen,  W.  C.,  253 

Allston,  R.  E.  W.,  report  of,  221 

American  Education  Society,  100 

American  Journal  of  Education,  169, 
280 

American  Literary,  Scientific,  and 
Military  Academy,  104 

American  Quarterly  Register,  100 

Amnesty   proclamation,  311 

Anglicanism,  10 

Ante-bellum  awakening,  Chapter  VII; 
school  system  in  Alabama,  250- 
255;  in  Arkansas,  255-258;  in 
Florida,  261-263;  in  Georgia,  238- 
242 ;  in  Louisiana,  242-246 ;  in 
Mississippi,  246—250;  in  North 
Carolina,  233-238;  in  South  Caro- 
lina, 215-228;  in  Tennessee,  228- 
233;  in  Texas,  258-261;  in  Vir- 
ginia, 198-215 

Ante-bellum  educational  revival,  cur- 
riculum, 270,  271;  factors  pro- 
moting, 265-267 ;  obstacles  to, 
263-265 ;  school  practices,  Chapter 
VIII;  teachers,  294,  295 

Antecedents,  European,   Chapter  I 

Apprenticeship  and  poor  laws,  13,  21 

Apprenticeship  system,  Chapter  III 

Appropriations  for  vocational  work, 
448,  449 

Arithmetic,  270;  early  texts  on,  276- 
280 

Arkansas,  academies  in,  97,  98;  ante- 
bellum school  system  of,  255-258; 
early  constitutional  provision  for 
schools,  255,  256;  early  school  law 
of,  256;  education  in,  during  re- 
construction, 313,  314,  319,  324, 
362-364;  permanent  public-school 
endowment  established  in,  183- 


473 


474 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


185 ;  poor  laws  and  apprenticeship 
practices  in,  64;  recent  condition 
of  public-school  endowment  in, 
191 ;  school  law  of,  1868,  328, 
329;  work  of  Peabody  Fund  in, 

389,  39° 

"Asburyan  period,"  81 
Ashley,  S.  S.,  367,  369  note 
Avoyelles  Academy,  95 
Awakening  before  1860,  Chapter  VII 
Ay  cock,  Charles  B.,  427 

Baptists,  81 

"Barbour  Bill,"  347 

Barnard,  Henry,  99,  197,  310;  of- 
fered New  Orleans  schools,  243, 
note 

Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Ed- 
ucation, 169 

Bassett,  John  Spencer,  quoted,  87 

Batesville  Academy,  97 

Bell,  Henderson  M.,  326 

Bennett,  Thomas,  217;  quoted,  217, 
218 

Benton  Academy,  103 

Berresford,  Richard,  31 

Bethel  College,  102 

Bethel  School,  82 

Bethesda  Orphan  House,  35,  36 

Bill  of  Rights,  8 

Bishop  of  London,  25 

"Black  and  Tan  Convention,"  319 

"Black  Codes,"  312,  313 

Blackboards,  107 

"Boarding  around,"  294 

Boone's  "Education  in  the  United 
States,"  169 

Bray,  Thomas,  27 

"Brooks-Baxter  War,"  363,  389  and 
note 

Brown,  A.  G.  (Governor),  248,  249 

Brown,  Jesse,  97 

Brown,  Joseph  E.  (Governor),  241 

Brown,  Neil  S.  (Governor),  232 

Butler,  Pierce  M.,  219 

Caddo  Academy,  95 

Caldwell,  David,  83,  86;  "log  col- 
lege" of,  83 

Caldwell,  Joseph,  151;  letters  on 
education,  151,  152 

Galloway,  John,  97 

Campaigns  for  education,  432,  433 


Campbell,  David  (Governor),  204 

Cardoza,  T.  W.,  impeached,  361 

Cardozo,  E.  L.  (Reverend),  322,  373 

Carroll,  William   (Governor),  140 

Catahoula  Academy,  95 

Cavaliers,  n 

Chantries  Act  of  1547,  6 

Character  of  reconstruction  school 
legislation,  332,  333 

Charity  schools,  27,  28 

Charles  I,   n 

Charleston,  21 

Charleston  Courier,  130 

Chatham  Academy,  36 

Chavis,  John,  86,  87 

Child,  James,  31 

Child-labor  legislation,  445,  446 

Children,  numbers  of,  441 

Church  catechism,  26 

Churchwardens,  duties  of,  52 

Cities  and  towns,  progress  in,  437 

Citizenship  training,  need  for,  469, 
470 

City  schools,  rise  of,  Chapter  XI 

Civil  Rights  Bill,  369,  372,  393,  400, 
410;  effect  in  Virginia,  35i~3S4 

Claiborne  Academy,  95 

Clarke,  James,  343 

Clarksburg  educational  convention, 
206,  207 

Claxton,  P.  P.,  430 

Clio's  Nursery  and  Science  Hall,  84 

Cloud,  Dr.  N.  B.,  374,  375 

Cokesbury  College,  82,  102 

Colburn's  "Arithmetic,"  277 

Colonial  Assemblies,  educational  in- 
terest of,  36;  libraries,  38,  39;  in 
North  Carolina,  36,  37;  in  South 
Carolina,  37,  38;  in  Virginia,  36 

Colonial  Theory  and  Practice,  Chap- 
ter II 

Colonization,  motives  of,  16 

Colton,  Simeon,  102 

Compulsory  assessment,  7 

Compulsory  education,  attendance 
laws,  444,  445,  446;  early  form  of, 
50 

Conditions  between  1876  and  1900, 
Chapter  XII;  economic,  416,  417; 
educational,  420-422  ;  political,  418, 
419 

Conference  for  Christian  Education 
in  the  South,  429 


INDEX 


475 


Conference    for    Education    in    the 

South,  429 
Congressional  plan  of  reconstruction, 

313  ff.,  317  ff. 
Consolidation  of  rural  schools,  460- 

467;  advantages  of,  461-463 
Constitutional  provisions  for  schools, 

conventions  (reconstruction),  318- 

325;  early,  n8ff.;  revisions  after 

1835,  I2I>  I22 

Conway,  Elias  N.   (Governor),  257 
Conway,  James  S.,  256 
Conway,  T.  W.,  356,  357,  395 
Corbin,  J.  C.,  362,  363 
Corn  clubs,  448  note 
Cornelius,  Elias,  100 
County  boards  of  education,  443, 453 
County  superintendents, 443, 453, 454 ; 

new  conception  of,  needed,  453 
County  unit,  444,  452 
Covington  Female  Academy,  95 
Craighead,  Thomas  B.,  86 
Craven,  Braxton;  236,  237 
Crowfield  Academy,  85 
Cumberland  College,  86,  90,  142 
Curriculum,     26,    43 ;     ante-bellum, 

270,  271 

Currin,  Robert  P.,  231 
Curry,  J.  L.  M.,  251,  429,  430 

Dabney,  C.  W.,  430 ;  Reverend  R.  L., 
350,  35i 

Davidson  Academy,  90 

Davidson  College,  85,  86,  102 

Davis,  John,  quoted,  77-80 

Defects  of  early  schools,  294-297 

Defoe,  Daniel,  73 

DeGress,  J.  C.,  366 

Dependents,  public  education  of, 
Chapter  III 

Descriptions  of  early  schools,  297-303 

Dexter's  "History  of  Education  in 
the  United  States,"  169 

Dimitry,  Alexander,  first  state  su- 
perintendent of  Louisiana,  244 

Discipline,  harsh,  43 

Dissenters,  74,  75 

Dissolution  of  monasteries,  5,  6 

District  system,  452,  453 

Doak,  Samuel,  89 

Donaldson  Academy,  102 

Dual  system,  441 

Dudley,  T.  U.,  429 


Duval,  Gabriel  B.,  state  superin- 
tendent of  Alabama,  253 

Early  arithmetics,  277-280;  consti- 
tutional provisions  for  schools, 
iiSff.;  educational  theories,  44; 
methods  of  teaching,  43,  296,  297 ; 
primers,  274,  275;  reading  books, 
275»  2?6;  schoolhouses,  43;  school 
practices,  Chapter  VIII;  spelling 
books,  272-274;  teachers  in  the 
South,  43 

Easburn,  Moses,  97 

East  India  School,  29 

Eaton,  John,  364,  365 

Eaton  School,  29 

Ebenezer  School,  82 

Economic  conditions  in  Southern 
colonies,  12 

Education,  during  reconstruction, 
337;  of  the  masses  neglected,  12, 
13;  of  negro,  454-458 

Educational  agencies  in  North  Caro- 
lina during  reconstruction,  368; 
beginnings  in  older  states,  Chap- 
ter V;  interest,  27,  28;  reforms 
under  presidential  plan,  313-317; 
societies,  31-36;  theories,  44 

Eggleston,  J.  D.,  Jr.,  430 

Elizabeth  Female  Academy,  96 

Elliott,  Stephen,  102,  220;  report  of, 
220 

Emory  and  Henry  College,  101,  409 

Endowments,  21,  28;  in  North  Caro- 
lina, 30;  in  South  Carolina,  30- 
31;  in  Virginia,  28-30 

English  Humanists,  10 

English  Poor  Law  of  1601,  50,  51, 
S2,  55 

Erskine  College,  102 

"Essay  on  Projects,"  73 

Established  Church,  10,  12,  13,  23, 
24;  in  Georgia,  25;  in  North  Car- 
olina, 24,  25;  in  South  Carolina, 
24,  25;  in  Virginia,  24 

European  Antecedents,  Chapter  I 

Falkner,  Kinloch,  316 
Far  West  Seminary,   103 
Farmers'  Alliance,  426 
Fayetteville  Female  Academy,  97 
Federal  Board  of  Vocational  Educa- 
tion, 449 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


Fellenberg,  98,  303 

Financial  support,  444 

Fisk,  F.  A.,  368 

Five  Mile  Act,  74 

Florida,  academies  in,  98;  ante- 
bellum school  system  of,  261-263; 
bitterness  and  violence  in,  358; 
early  school  law  of,  262 ;  educa- 
tion in,  during  reconstruction,  357- 
359;  Education  Society,  98,  261, 
262 ;  interest  in  normal  training 
in,  263 ;  omitted  from  benefits  of 
Peabody  Fund,  391 ;  permanent 
public-school  endowment  estab- 
lished in,  186,  187;  poor  laws  and 
apprenticeship  practices  in,  65,  66; 
public  debt  of,  during  reconstruc- 
tion, 358  note;  recent  condition  of 
permanent  public-school  endow- 
ment, 191 ;  school  law  of  1869, 
329-330;  women's  educational  or- 
ganization in,  262 ;  work  of  Pea- 
body  Fund  in,  390,  391 

Flyleaf  scribblings,  292,  293 

Fourteenth  Amendment,  312,313,318 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  35  and  note,  73, 

74 

Franklin  College,  84 
Franklinton  Academy,  95 
Fredericksburg  Academy,  88 
Freedmen,  education  of,  aided,  368; 

education    of,   aided  by   Peabody 

Fund,  411,  412 

Freedmen's  Bureau,  328,  359,  368 
"French  Club,"  33,  34 
Frissell,  H.  B.,  430 
Furman  University,  102 

General  Education  Board,  429,  456 
Geography,  270,  271;  early  texts  on, 

280-286 

Georgia,  14,  23,  25,  28,  34,  316,  319, 
324;  academies  in,  88,  89;  ante- 
bellum school  system  of,  238-242 ; 
apprenticeship  and  poor-law  prac- 
tices in,  62,  63;  county  academies 
of,  133,  134,  136;  early  school  law 
of,  133-138;  education  in,  during 
reconstruction,  354-356;  Estab- 
lished Church  in,  25  ;  literary  fund 
of,  136;  permanent  public-school 
endowment  established  in,  170- 
172;  school  law  of  1783,  133; 


school  law  of  1822,  136;  school 
law  of  1837,  138;  school  law  of 
1870,  330;  share  of  surplus  rev- 
enue, 171;  social  disorder  in,  dur- 
ing reconstruction,  354-356;  tutors 
in,  41;  University  of,  84,  134; 
work  of  Peabody  Fund  in,  391-393  % 

"Georgia  Scenes,"  80 

Germans,  13,  14,  23,  81 

Gibbs,  J.  C.,  358  note 

Globes,  107 

Goodrich 's  "History  of  the  United 
States,"  287 

Grammar,  270;  early  texts  on,  288- 
291 

Grand  Remonstrance,  8 

Grange,  426 

Granger,  Nicholas,  28 

Great  Charter,  8 

Greensburg  Female  Academy,  95 

Greer,  David  B.,  257,  258 

Habersham,  James,  35 

Hall,  James,  84 

Hall,  Lyman  (Governor),  133 

Hampden-Sidney  College,  83,  84,  101 

Harsh  discipline,  43 

Hayne,  Henry  E.,  373 

"Henkel  Bill,"  348,  349 

Henry  VIII,  10 

High  Commission,  n 

High  schools,  teacher-training  classes 

in,  449 

Hill,  George  W.,  363,  364 
History,   270,   271;    early   texts  on, 

286-288 

Hodgson,  Joseph,  375 
Holden,  W.  W.  (Governor),  368 
Hollins  Institute,  409 
Holmes,  Gabriel  (Governor),  149 
Hornbooks,  26 
Horner,  James  H.,  87 
Houston,  Sam,  433 
Howe,  John  De  La,  99 

Idle  poor,  increase  of,  6 

Illiteracy,  attempts  to  eliminate,  447 ; 

commissions,  447 ;  revealed  by  war, 

446 
Incentives,  for  colonization,  n,   12; 

for  educational  reforms,  424-428 
Indentured  servants,  22,  23 
"Independents,"  10 


INDEX 


477 


Indian  Massacre,  29 
Industrial  training,  21 
Innes,  James,  30 
Institutes,  449 

Jamestown,  21 
Jeanes  Fund,  456 

Jefferson,    Thomas,     bill     for     free 
schools,  114, 115, 122, 124, 125, 126; 
reforms  of,  122  ff. ;  school  plan  of, 
124  ff.,  133,  156,  213,  216  note 
Jefferson  College,  96,  246,  247 
Jeffersonian  democracy,  2 
Jess's  "Arithmetic,"  279,  280 
Jillson,  J.  K.,  328,  370,  371 
Johnson,  Andrew,  31,  231  note,  232 
Johnson,  Isaac  (Governor),  243 
Johnson  Female  Academy,  95 
Johnston,    Gabriel,    educational    in- 
terest of,  37 

Johnston,  Samuel,  library  of,  39 
Juvenile  Court,  445 

Ker,  David,  96 

Kirkman"s  "Grammar,"  289-291 

Lancasterian  schools,  258,  266 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  311,  326 

Liberty  Hall  Academy,  37,  84,  85, 
88,  89 

Libraries,  27,  38,  39 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  311 

Lindsey,  Caleb,  97 

Lindsley,  Phillip,  on  need  of  schools 
in  Tennessee,  142,  143 

Little  Rock  Academy,  97 

Local  government  in  England  in 
seventeenth  century,  9 

London  Company,  29 

Longstreet,  Judge  Augustus  Bald- 
win, 80 

Lotteries,  76,  94,  96,  104 

Louis  XIV,  14 

Louisiana,  academies  in,  94-96 ;  ante- 
bellum school  system  of,  242-246; 
apprenticeship  and  poor-law  prac- 
tices in,  63;  education  in,  during 
reconstruction,  356-357;  first  pub- 
lic-school law  of,  243 ;  lotteries 
allowed  in,  94;  permanent  public- 
school  endowment  established  in, 
187,  188;  recent  condition  of ,  192; 
share  of  surplus  revenue,  188; 


work  of  Peabody  Fund  in,  319, 
325,  393-396 

Low  educational  position,  explana- 
tion of,  441,  442 

Ludlam,  Richard,  31 

Lusher,  H.  M.,  394 

Luther,  Martin,  10 

McCorkle,  Samuel  C,  84 

McDuffie,  George,  218;  quoted,  218, 
219 

McEwen,  Robert  H.,  164;  defalca- 
tion of,  231;  first  state  superin- 
tendent of  Tennessee,  229,  230,  231 ; 
investigation  of,  167 

Mclver,  Alexander,  369  note 

Mclver,  Charles  D.,  430 

McKleroy,  John  M.,  378 

McWhir,  William,  85,  86 

Malnutrition  of  rural  children,  447 
note 

Mangum,  Willie  P.,  87 

Manly,  Charles,  87 

Mann,  Horace,  197,  310 

Manning,  Judge  Thomas  C.,  398 

Manual-labor  schools,  98-103,  142, 
303 

Manual  training,  448  note 

Maps,  107 

Marietta  (Georgia)  Educational 
Conference,  241 

Marion,  General  Francis,  quoted,  115 

Martin  Academy,  89 

Mathematics,  276-280 

Mayo,  A.  D.,  169 

Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, 85 

Meek,  Alexander  B.,  182,  251 

Methodists,  schools  of,  82 

Methods  of  teaching,  early,  296,  297, 

431 

Middleton,  Henry  (Governor),  130, 
216 

Military  schools,  98,  103,  104 

Milton,  John,  73,  74 

Minden  Female  Seminary,  95 

Minor,  John  B.,  326 

Mississippi,  academies  in,  96;  ante- 
bellum school  system  of,  246-250; 
apprenticeship  and  poor-law  prac- 
tices in,  63,  64;  education  in,  dur- 
ing reconstruction,  359-362 ;  fraud 
and  extravagance  in,  360;  immi- 


478 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


gration  to,  247 ;  lottery  privileges 
allowed  in,  96;  permanent  public- 
school  endowment  established  in, 
I72>»173;  recent  condition  of  per- 
manent public-school  endowment 
in,  191 ;  school  law  of  1870,  331 ; 
work  of  Peabody  Fund  in,  396- 
398;  omitted  from  benefits  of 
Peabody  Fund,  391,  397-398 
Mitchell,  D.  B.  (Governor),  135 
Mixed  schools,  32off ;  hatred  of,  in 

South  Carolina,  370,  372 
Monasteries,  dissolution  of,  in  Eng- 
land, 5,  6 

Montpelier  Academy,  95 
"Moonlight  schools,"  447 
Moravians,  34 
Morrill  Act,  103 
Morse's    "Geography,"    281-284 
Moseley,  Edward,  library  of,  39 
Murphey,  Archibald  D.,  147;  report 

of,  147,  148 

Murphy,  Isaac  (Governor),  313,314 
Murray's    "Grammar,"    288,    289 

Nashville  Normal  College,  405,  412 
National  Teachers'  Association,  308 
Negro,  education  of,  454-458 ;  slav- 
ery, 22,  23 
"New  England  Primer,"  43,  44,  274, 

275 

New  Orleans  Normal  School,  394 
Newspapers,  early  establishment  of, 

39,  4° 

Nicholson,  Francis,  38 

Noble,  Patrick,  220 

Nonattendance,  439,  445 

Norfolk  Academy,  88 

Normal  College,  236 

Normal  schools,  449 ;  academies 
forerunners  of,  108 

North  Carolina,  academies  in,  88; 
ante-bellum  school  system  of,  233- 
328;  apprenticeship  and  poor-law 
practices  in,  58-61 ;  early  school 
legislation  in,  145-155;  education 
in,  during  reconstruction,  367-370 ; 
Established  Church  in,  24,  25 ; 
permanent  public-school  endow- 
ment established  in,  173-177;  pub- 
lic-welfare plan  of,  445,  446; 
recent  condition  of  permanent  pub- 
lic-school endowment  in,  190,  191 ; 


school  law  of  1839,  !54!  of  1869, 
30,  36,  37,  316,  320,  323,  327; 
share  of  surplus  revenue,  153,  154, 
174,  175,  176;  tutors  in,  41;  Uni- 
versity of,  85,  145;  work  of  Pea- 
body  Fund  in,  398-401 

"North  Carolina  Institute  of  Edu- 
cation," 151 

Northwest  Ordinance,  115,  120,  183, 
185,  247 

Ogden,  Robert  C.,  429 

Ogden  Movement,  429  note 

Oglethorpe,  James,  34 

"Old  Blue  Back,"  272-273 

"Old  field  schools,"  41,  42 

Older  States,  educational  beginnings 

in,  Chapter  V 

Olney's  "Geography,"  284-285 
Oneida  Manual  Labor  Institute,  100 
Organization,    administrative,    442- 

444 ;     improvements    in,    needed, 

450-454 

Orphans'    Courts,    see    Chapter    III 
Orr,  Gustavus  J.,  354-356 
Ouachita  Female  Academy,  95 
Overseers  of  the  poor,  duties  of,  52 

Palatines,  14 

Parker,  Felix,  231  note 

Patillo,  Henry,  87 

Partridge,    Captain    Alden,    104 

Patton,  Robert  M.,  251 

Payne,  Bruce  R.,  413 

Peabody,  George,  384,  385,  405,  413 

Peabody  College  for  Teachers,  412, 
413  "y 

Peabody  Fund^  81,  109,  251,  415; 
policy  of,  386;  purpose  of,  384- 
386;  results  of,  410-413;  states 
aided  by,  386;  work  of,  Chapter 
XI;  in  Alabama,  386-388;  in  Ar- 
kansas, 389,  390;  in  Florida,  390, 
391 ;  in  Georgia,  391-393 ;  in  Louis- 
iana, 393-396;  in  Mississippi,  396- 
398 ;  in  North  Carolina,  398-401 ; 
in  South  Carolina,  401-403 ;  in 
Tennessee,  403-405 ;  in  Texas,  405- 
407 ;  in  Virginia,  407-410 

Pease,  Henry  R.,  359 

Pendleton,  Edmund,  326 

Penn,  William,  14 

Pensions  for  teachers,  450 


INDEX 


479 


People's  Party,  427 

Permanent  public-school  endow- 
ments, 157,  Chapter  VI ;  in  Ala- 
bama, 177-183,  191,  192;  in 
Arkansas,  183-185,  191 ;  careless- 
ness in  management  of,  163  ff .,  189  ; 
in  Florida,  186,  187,  191;  in 
Georgia,  170-172,  190;  in  Louisi- 
ana, 187,  188,  192 ;  in  Mississippi, 
172,  173,  191;  motives  of  estab- 
lishing, 162 ;  in  North  Carolina, 
173-177,  190,  191;  recent  condi- 
tions of,  189 ff.;  in  South  Carolina, 
169-170,  191;  in  Tennessee,  164- 
167,  191;  in  Texas,  185,  186,  192; 
in  Virginia,  167,  168,  190 

Perry,  Scott,  231 

Perry,  William  F.,  181;  first  state 
superintendent  of  Alabama,  252, 
253,  272.  3*°;  quoted,  181,  182 

Pestalozzi,  98,  303 

"Peter  Parley's"  "Geography,"  285, 
286 

Petersburg  Academy,  88 

Petition  of  Right,  8 

Phelps-Stokes  Fund,  456 

Physical  examination  of  school  chil- 
dren, 447 

Pickens,  Andrew,  216 

Pike's   "Arithmetic,"    277-279 

Pine  Grove  Academy,  95 

Plantation  system,  influence  of,  22 

Plaquemines  Academy,  95 

Political  conditions  in  England,  8 

Polk,  James  K.,  142 

Poor  law  of  1601,  significance  of,  7 

Poor  laws  and  apprenticeship,  13,  21, 
Chapter  III;  essential  features  of, 
66,  67,  68;  extent  of,  67,  68;  in 
Alabama,  64,  65 ;  in  Arkansas,  64 ; 
in  Florida,  65,  66;  in  Georgia,  62, 
63 ;  in  Louisiana,  63 ;  in  Missis- 
sippi, 63,  64;  in  North  Carolina, 
61-68 ;  in  South  Carolina,  61-62  ;  in 
Tennessee,  63  ;  in  Texas,  66 ;  in  Vir- 
ginia, 52-58;  significance  of,  68—70 

Pope,  Colonel  William,  86 

Populist  Party,  427 

Poydras  Academy,  95 

Presbyterians,  82 ;  educational  work 
of,  82-87 

Present  tasks  and  tendencies,  Chap- 
ter XIII 


Presidential  plan  of  reconstruction, 
311-313;  educational  reform  dur- 
ing, 3I3-3I7 

Primers,  26;  ante-bellum,  274,  275 

Prince  Edward  Academy,  84,  88 

Printing  presses,  early  establishment 
of,  39,  40 

Privy  Coundl,  n 

Property  values,  442 

Providence  Academy,  95 

Provisional  governors  in  Southern 
States,  311,  312 

Public  high-school  movement,  109 

Public- welfare  legislation,  445,  446; 
plan  in  North  Carolina,  445,  446 

Puritans,  10,  n 

Quakers,  81 

Queen's  Museum,  37,  85 

Raleigh  Register,  152  note 

Raleigh  Sentinel,  320 

Randolph-Macon  College,  214 

Reading,  270 

Reading  books,  ante-bellum,  275,  276 

Reading-circle   work,   449   and   note 

Readjustment  and  the  Reawakening, 
Chapter  XII 

"Rebel"  question,  312 

Reconstruction,  Acts,  318;  congres- 
sional plan  of,  313  ff.,  317  ff. ;  con- 
stitutional conventions,  318-325; 
constitutions  and  laws,  32 iff.;  de- 
structive effects  of,  307 ff.;  educa- 
tion during,  Chapter  X;  effects  of, 
379,  380;  persistent  influences  of, 
416;  presidential  plan  of,  311-313; 
process  of  undoing  begun,  379; 
school  legislation,  332,  333;  views 
concerning  educational  influence 
of,  3°7  ff- 

Reed,  Reverend  James,  37 

Reform,  attempts  at,  before  the 
Civil  War,  Chapter  VII 

Reformation,  14 

Religious  changes  in  Europe,  9 

Religious  liberty,  23,  26;  dissensions, 

25 

Renaissance,  9,  73;  American  educa- 
tional, 122 

Reorganization  after  the  Civil  War, 
Chapter  IX 

Restoration,  English,  74 


48o 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


Richmond  College,  101 

Richmond  County  Academy,  88 

Richmond  Dispatch,  319 

Richmond  Educational  Convention, 
207,  210,  211 

Richmond  Normal  School,  409 

Road-building,  468 

Roane,  John  S.  (Governor),  256 

Robertson,  James,  86 

Rosenwald  Fund,  456 

Ruffner,  Henry,  206,  207,  326;  Wil- 
liam H.,  206,  326,  339,  340,  345, 
350,  35i,  353 

Rural  education,  children,  defects  of, 
447  note;  consolidation,  460-467; 
advantages  of  consolidation,  461- 
463 ;  need  of  supervision,  454 ; 
school,  plight  of,  458-460;  slow 
progress  in,  437;  teachers,  meager 
training  of,  440 

Rural  life,  tendency  to,  22 

Ryan,  John  B.,  state  superintendent 
of  Alabama,  254 

Salaries,  440 

Santa  Anna,  433 

Savannah  Poorhouse  and  Hospital 
Society,  36 

Schism  Act,  25,  37 

Schley,  William  (Governor),  172 

School  practices  before  1860,  Chap- 
ter VIII 

Schoolhouses,  early,  43 

Schoolmasters,  advertisements  relat- 
ing to,  41 ;  instructions  to,  26 

Schools,  advertisements  relating   to, 

4i 

Scotch-Irish,  13-16,  23,  82 ;  educa- 
tional work  of,  82-87 

Scribbling  on  flyleaves,  292,  293 

Seabrook,  W.  B.,  224 

Sears,  Barnas,  81,  357,  369;  work 
of,  as  general  agent  of  Peabody 
Fund,  Chapter  XI 

Secondary  education,  439 

Sectarian  pride,  75,  77 

Selective  idea  in  education,  12 

Selective  Service  Act,  revelation  of, 
446 

Separate  schools  for  the  two  races, 

324,  325 

"Separatists,"  10 
Shepherdstown  Academy,  88 


Slater  Fund,  456 

Smith,    Francis    H.,    205 ;    Thomas, 

362;  William  A.,  214 
Smith-Hughes  Act,  448 
Smith-Lever  Act,  448 
Societies,  educational,  31-36 
"Society     for     Promoting     Manual 

Labor    in    Literary    Institutions," 

100,  101 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 

Gospel  in   Foreign  Parts,  26,  27, 

35 

South  Carolina,  22,  30,  37,  130-133, 
319,  321,  322;  academies  , in1_88 ; 
ante-bellum  school  system  in,  215- 
228;  ante-bellum  teachers  in,  218; 
apprenticeship  and  poor-law  prac- 
tices in,  61,  62;  condition  of 
schools  in  1900,  422;  description 
of  early  schools  in,  £Q2-3Q2 ',  edu- 
cation in,  during  reconstruction, 
370-374;  erroneous  views  concern- 
ing permanent  public-school  en- 
dowment before  Civil  War,  169, 
170;  Established  Church  in,  24, 
25 ;  estimate  of  ante-bellum  school 
system  in,  227;  hatred  of  mixed 
schools  in,  370 ;  recent  condition  of 
present  public-school  fund,  191 ; 
school  laws  of  1811  and  1835,  131, 
132,215,  216;  school  laws  of  1870, 
328 ;  State  Normal  School  organized, 
373;  teachers  and  teaching  in,  295, 
296;  tutors  in,jjj.;  work  of  Pea- 
body  Fund  in,  401-403 
South  Carolina  College,  130,  218, 

220,  372 

South  Carolina  College  of  Agricul- 
tural and  Mechanical  Arts,  373 
South   Carolina  Gazette,  41 
South    Carolina  Military   Academy, 

104 

South  Carolina  Society  of  Charles- 
ton, 33,  34 

Southern    Central    Agricultural    So- 
ciety, 241 

Southern  Commercial  Congress,  291 
Southern      Conference      Movement, 

429  note 

Southern  Education  Board,  429 
Southern  Educational  Journal,  291 
Southern     Educational     Movement, 
429  note 


INDEX 


481 


Southern  States,  educational  com- 
parison, 438,  439 

Sparsity  of  population,  442 

Speed,  Joseph  H.,  377 

Spellers,  26 

Spelling,  270 

Spelling  books,  ante-bellum,  272-274 

Spring  Creek  Academy,  95 

Springfield  Institute,  95 

State  Agricultural  Society  of  South 
Carolina,  221,  222 

State  boards  of  education,  443,  450, 

4Si 
State  superintendents,  443  and  note, 

45i,  452 

Stearns,  Eben  S.,  404 

Summer  normals,  449 

Sumner,  Henry,  222  and  note;  re- 
port of,  222-224 

Sunbury  Academy,  85,  86 

Supervision,  need  of,  454 

Surplus  revenue  of  1837,  177,  178 

Survey  commissions,  444 

Swift's  "Public  Permanent  Common 
School  Funds  in  the  United  States," 
169,  170 

Symms  School,  29 

System,  present,  Chapter  XIII 

Tasks,  present,  Chapter  XIII 
Tate,  James,  85 
Tate's  Academy,  85 
Taylor,  John  B.,  state  superintend- 
ent of  Alabama,  253,  254 
Teacher  training,  need  for,  441 
Teachers,  advertisements  relating  to, 
41 ;  character  of  early,  294,  295 ; 
improving    status    of,    449,    450; 
pensions,  450 ;  teachers'  homes,  450 
Teaching,  early  methods  of,  43 
Tendencies,  present,  Chapter  XIII 
Tennessee,  315,  324,  330;  academies 
in,  89-93 ;  ante-bellum  school  sys- 
tem of,  228-233;   appprenticeship 
and    poor-law    practices    in,    63 ; 
early    school    legislation    in,    139- 
145;   education  in,  during   recon- 
struction, 364-365 ;  need  of  schools 
in,    142,    143;    permanent    public- 
school  endowment  established  in, 
164-167;    public  lands   in,  89-93, 
139-145;  school  law  of  1806,  139; 
school   law  of   1823,  141 ;   school 


law  of  1827,  143;  school  law  of 
1830,  143,  144,  145;  recent  con- 
dition of  permanent  school  fund 
of,  IQI;  share  of  surplus  revenue, 
1 66;  work  of  Peabody  Fund  in, 
403-405 

Tennessee    State   Teachers'   Associa- 
tion, 403,  404 
Term,  school,  438 

Texas,  316,  319,  324;  academies  in, 
98;  ante-bellum  school  system  of, 
258-261 ;  apprenticeship  and  poor- 
law  practices  in,  66;  early  consti- 
tutional provision  for  schools,  259, 
260;  early  schools  in,  258;  educa- 
tion in,  during  reconstruction,  366, 
367;  permanent  public-school  en- 
dowment established  in,  185,  186; 
recent  condition  of  permanent 
public-school  endowment,  192 ; 
school  law  of  1854,  260,  261 ;  work 
of  Peabody  Fund  in,  405-407 
Textbooks,  in  Alabama,  272 ;  in  Ar- 
kansas, 271,  272;  complaints 
against,  291,  292;  free,  448  note; 
in  North  Carolina,  271;  selection 
of,  448  note;  suggested  uniform- 
ity of,  271;  in  Virginia,  271 
"The  American  Primer,"  274,  275 
Theory  and  practice,  colonial,  Chap- 
ter II 

Third  Party,  427 
Thirteenth  Amendment,  312 
Thirty  Years'  War,  13 
Thornwell,  James  H.,  102 ;  report  of, 

220 

Tomato  clubs,  448  note 
Towns  and  cities,  progress  in,  437 
"Tractate  on  Education,"  73 
Trained  teachers,  need  for,  440,  441 
Training  of   teachers,  promoted  by 

Peabody  Fund, 412 
Transportation  of  pupils,  463,  464 
"Travels  of  Four  Years  and  a  Half 

in  the  United  States,"  77 
Treaty  of  Westphalia,  14 
Trinity  College,  236;  early  teacher- 
training  courses  in,  236,  237 
Troup,  G.  M.   (Governor),  238 
Turner,  James  (Governor),  146 
"Turning  out"  the  teacher,  300,  301 
Tutorial  system,  21,  40,  41 
"Two-bit  Club,"  34 


482 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SOUTH 


Ulster,  plantation  of,  15 
Unemployment  in  England,  5 
Uniformity  of  texts,  271 
Union  Labor  Party,  426 
Union  Male  and  Female  Academy,  95 
Union  Society  of  Savannah,  36 
United  States  Military  Academy,  104 
University  of  Georgia,  84,  106,  134 
University  of  Nashville,  86,  90,  404 
"University  of  New  Orleans,"  94 
University    of   North    Carolina,   85, 

106,  145 

University  of  Orleans,  242 
University  of  Virginia,  106 
Urban  schools,  progress  in,  347 

Vermilionville   Academy,  95 

Vestry  Act  of  1777,  60 

Virginia,  u,  12,  14,  22,  28,  29, 
36,  318,  319,  320,  321,  325,  330, 
338  ff . ;  academies  in,  88 ;  ante- 
-bellum school  system  of,  198-215; 
apprenticeship  and  poor-law  prac- 
tices in,  52-58;  attitude  towards 
teachers  in,  295 ;  constitutional 
provision  for  school  taxes,  209, 
210;  defective  legislation  in,  346; 
diversion  of  school  funds  in,  341  ff . ; 
education  during  reconstruction  in, 
338  ff. ;  educational  conventions  in, 
206-208;  effect  of  Civil  Rights 
Bill  in,  351-354;  Established 
Church  in,  23,  24;  literary  fund 
established  in,  127;  permanent 
public-school  endowment  estab- 
lished in,  167, 168 ;  recent  condition 
of  public-school  fund,  190;  school 
law  of  1796,  126;  school  law  of 
1818,128;  school  law  of  1829,200; 
school  law  of  1846,  207,  208,  209; 
school  law  of  1870,  326;  teachers 
in,  before  1860,  203,  204;  tutors 
in,  41 ;  work  of  Peabody  Fund  in, 
407-410 

Virginia  Baptist  Seminary,  101 

Virginia  Company,  8 

Virginia  Educational  Association,  339 

Virginia  Educational  Convention, 
210,  211 

Virginia  Educational  Journal,  339 


Virginia     Literary,     Scientific,     and 

Military  Academy,  104 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  205 
Vocational  work,  appropriations  for, 

448,  449 

Waddel,  Moses,  83,  86;  school  of, 

83,  84 

Wake  Forest  College,  102 
Waltham,  John,  28 
Washington,     George,    86;     quoted, 

116 

Washington  Academy,  96,  97 
Washington  College,  89,  206 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  84 
Webster's   "History    of   the    United 

States,"  288 
Webster's    "Old    Blue    Back,"    272, 

273 

Weeks,  S.  B.,  252 ;  quoted,  93 

Weld,  Theodore  D.,  100 

Wesley,  Charles,  35 

West  Baton  Rouge  Academy,  95 

West  Point  Academy,  104 

Whitefield,  George,  35 

Whitmarsh,  John,  31 

Wiley,  Calvin  H.,  editor  of 
teachers'  journal,  237;  first 
state  superintendent  of  North 
Carolina,  235,  237;  leadership 
of,  237,  238,  270,  310,  398;  re- 
ports of,  237;  textbooks  of,  237 

William  and  Mary  College,  36,  78, 

125 

Williams,  Dave,  31 
Williams,     David     R.     (Governor), 

216 

Wills,  28 

Winchester  Academy,  88 
Winwright,  James,  30 
Winyaw  Indigo  Society,  31,  32,  33 
Wise,   Henry   A.    (Governor),   211; 

quoted,  212,  213,  214,  225 
Witherspoon,  John,  86 
World  War,  defects  revealed  by,  468 
Writing,  270 

Young  Men's  Democracy,  427 
Zion  Parnassus,  84,  85 


Hdudtioo 

Ubrirr 

-      LA 
212 
K74 
cop.  2 


L  005  389  052  1 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000955618     4 


